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Barclays first quarter earnings, swings back to profit amid overhaul

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Signage shines through a window reflecting Barclays head office in Canary Wharf, London, U.K.

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LONDON — Shares of Barclays rose 4% on Thursday after the bank reported first-quarter net income attributable to shareholders of £1.55 billion ($1.93 billion), beating expectations and returning the British lender to profit amid a major strategic overhaul.

Analysts polled by Reuters had expected net profit attributable to shareholders of £1.29 billion for the quarter, according to LSEG data.

The bank’s shares were up 4.1% by 9:50 a.m. London time.

Pre-tax profits, however, were down 12% to £2.28 billion from $2.6 billion a year earlier, as the bank braces to implement its extensive revamp plans.

Here are some other highlights:

  • First-quarter group revenue was £6.95 billion, down 4% from the same period last year.
  • Credit impairment charges were £513 million, compared with £524 million in the first quarter of 2023.
  • Common equity tier one (CET1) capital ratio, a measure of bank’s financial strength was 13.5%, down from 13.8% in the previous quarter.
  • Full-year return on tangible equity (RoTE) was 12.3%.
  • Quarterly total operating expenses were up 2% year-on-year at £4.2 billion.

Barclays reported a net loss of £111 million in the fourth quarter of 2023 due to an operational shake-up designed to reduce costs and improve efficiencies.

CEO C.S. Venkatakrishnan said the bank’s first-quarter results showed it was committed to implementing its overhaul plans, including via further investment in its U.K. consumer business and through its acquisition of Tesco Bank, which expected to complete in the fourth quarter of this year.

“We are focused on disciplined execution of the plan that we presented at our Investor Update on 20th February,” he said in a statement.

The revamp plans included a £900 million hit due to structural cost-cutting measures, which the bank said were expected to lead to gross cost savings of around £500 million in 2024, with an expected payback period of less than two years.

The overhaul saw the reorganization of the business into five operating divisions, separating the corporate and investment bank to form: Barclays U.K., Barclays U.K. Corporate Bank, Barclays Private Bank and Wealth Management, Barclays Investment Bank and Barclays U.S. Consumer Bank.

The bank also pledged to return £10 billion to shareholders between 2024 and 2026 through dividends and share buybacks.

Will Howlett, financials analyst at Quilter Cheviot, said in a Thursday note that the first-quarter results were a “promising start,” indicating that the bank is adhering to the financial roadmap outlined in its 2023 full-year results.

“With a solid start to the year, Barclays is poised to reshape its valuation narrative and deliver on its promises to shareholders,” Howlett said.

“The reiteration of profitability targets, aiming for a return on tangible equity (RoTE) of over 10% in 2024 and over 12% in 2026, reflects a consistency in Barclays’ ambitions despite previous setbacks.”

— CNBC’s Elliot Smith contributed to this report.

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Digital bank Bunq accelerates US expansion effort as profit jumps

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Dutch digital bank Bunq is plotting re-entry into the U.K. to tap into a “large and underserved” market of some 2.8 million British “digital nomads.”

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Dutch digital bank Bunq on Tuesday said it’s filed for broker-dealer registration in the U.S. as it looks to further expand across the Atlantic.

Bunq CEO Ali Niknam said the broker-dealer application will be an initial step toward securing a full banking license. He couldn’t offer a firm timeline for when Bunq will secure this authorization in the U.S. — but said he’s excited for its growth prospects in the country.

Obtaining a broker-dealer license will mean Bunq “can offer our users who have an international footprint — which is the user demography we’re aiming for — a great number of our services,” Niknam told CNBC. Bunq mainly caters for “digital nomads,” individuals who can live and work from anywhere remotely.

Bunq will be able to offer most of its services in the U.S. with the exception of a savings account after securing broker-dealer authorization, Niknam added.

Bunq, which touts itself as a bank for “digital nomads,” currently has a banking license in the European Union. It has applied for an Electronic Money Institution (EMI) in the U.K. Bunq previously had operations in Britain but forced to withdraw from the country in 2020 due to Brexit.

Bunq initially filed for a U.S. Federal bank charter in April 2023. However, it withdrew the application a year later, citing issues between its Dutch regulator and U.S. agencies. The company plans to resubmit its application for a full U.S. banking license later this year.

65% jump in profit

Beyond the update on international expansion, Bunq also on Tuesday reported a 65% year-over-year jump in profit to 85.3 million euros ($97.2 million). That jump was primarily driven by a 55% increase in net interest income, while net fee income also grew 35%.

Similarly to fintech peers such as N26 and Monzo, Bunq has benefited from a high interest rate environment by pocketing yields on customer deposits sat at the central bank.

Bunq’s CEO told CNBC that, while high interest rates have certainly helped, more generally Bunq is seeing increased usage of the platform and has been focused on cost efficiency from an operational perspective.

“Because we are so lean and mean, and because we have set up all of our systems from scratch … we have been able to not only increase our profits, but also offer very good interest rates in the European market in general, and in the Netherlands specifically,” Niknam said.

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More recently, central banks in the EU and U.K. and U.S. have moved to slash interest rates in response to falling inflation and concerns of an economic slowdown, which can bite into bank earnings.

Niknam said he’s not concerned by the prospect of rates coming down and expects potential declines in interest income to be offset by a “diversified” revenue mix that includes income from paid subscription products, as well as new features. Bunq recently launched a tool that lets users trade stocks.

“This is different in continental Europe to the U.K. We had negative interest rates for long,” Niknam told CNBC. “So as we were growing, actually our cost base was also growing because we had to pay for all the deposits that people deposited a Bunq so I think we’re in a great position in 2025

Bunq is coming up against heaps of competition, especially in the U.S. market. America is already served by established consumer banking giants, including JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo and Citigroup. It’s also home to several major fintech brands, such as Chime and Robinhood.

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