BARCLAYS will cut about £100 million (S$172 million) of annual costs from its UK corporate banking business by 2026, it said on Tuesday (Jun 18), under broader plans to ramp up investment in the under-achieving unit.
The UK-based lender seeks to deepen lending relationships with corporate clients, the division’s CEO Matt Hammerstein told analysts on Tuesday, adding that only 35 per cent of Barclays’ corporate clients borrow from the bank, a rate below that seen by peers.
“We believe it is the right time to lean into corporate lending growth in the UK,” Hammerstein said.
Barclays will achieve the cost cuts through measures such as consolidating its five online access portals for clients into one, he added.
The newly created corporate banking unit serves customers with turnover from £6.5 million up to FTSE 350 businesses, and will grow income amid the cost-cutting by cross-selling more products to those clients, Hammerstein said.
Barclays in February said it will refocus its efforts on its home market as part of a broader revamp aimed at beefing up returns to investors.
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The presentation on Tuesday offered shareholders a first look inside its UK corporate banking business, one of the five new operating divisions that CEO CS Venkatakrishnan split the bank into in order to improve transparency on their respective performances.
The Ohio-born American Hammerstein, seen internally as a future leadership hopeful at Barclays, joined the bank in 2004 and has worked in various roles since, mostly at its British retail banking business. REUTERS
