>>> Barclays CEO and chairman split over interest in bid for Standard Chartered

Barclays CEO and chairman split over interest in bid for Standard Chartered - reports
24 MAY 2018
Barclays’ [LON:BARC] chief executive Jes Staley and the FTSE-100 bank’s chairman John McFarlane are in disagreement about a potential takeover bid for UK-based rival Standard Chartered [LON:STAN], The Timesreported. The newspaper did not cite a source for the information.
An Ft.com report on Wednesday, 23 May said McFarlane was interested in a potential merger with Standard Chartered and that he had the support of Barclays International chairman Gerry Grimstone. The report cited people briefed on the situation for the information.
The Times report said Barclays and Standard Chartered are trying to downplay the merger speculation.
McFarlane’s interest in a deal with Standard Chartered is in contrast to Staley, who has been trying to pull back from the Asian and African markets to focus on London and New York, the item said.
The report quoted an analyst who said the Barclays board’s “apparent” difference of opinion with Staley does not create a good impression and would leave the bank vulnerable to further activist shareholder campaigns.
As disclosed in March, the activist investment firm Sherborne has acquired 5% of Barclays’ shares. The firm’s founder Edward Bramson has met with senior Barclays directors including Staley and McFarlane to inform them of his opinion that the bank needs to shrink its investment banking arm to return cash to shareholders.
The article went on to quote a Standard Chartered spokesperson who said the bank is focused on execution of its strategy and declined to comment on such speculation.
Separately, an analytical report in the Financial Times quoted one of Barclays’ ten biggest shareholders, who said the mooted tie-up with Standard Chartered would establish “another HSBC” by combining the two banks’ strength in emerging markets and the West. The shareholder has recently met Mcfarlane and said Barclays is clearly considering all options, although the level of detail remains to be seen.
Barclays would be able to sell investment banking and credit cards via Standard Chartered’s emerging markets business, the item said. A deal could also have merits on the basis of funding, as Standard Chartered’s cheap deposits in Asia could lower the merged group’s cost of funding, the report added.
However, the two banks have limited geographic duplication, meaning there would be little room to cut costs, the article said.
Wednesday’s Ft.com report said Barclays also considered Credit Suisse [VTX:CSGN], Deutsche Bank [ETR:DBK] and Singapore’s DBS [SGX:MU7] as potential merger partners, without citing a source for the information. The same report also appeared in Thursday's Financial Times newspaper.
Barclays’ market capitalisation stood at GBP 35.71bn (EUR 40.75bn) at the close of trading in London on Wednesday, while Standard Chartered was valued at GBP 25.44bn.