Barclays confirms £5.8bn rights issue as profits plummet
Results posted today show the company has a £12.8bn hole in its balance sheet - but chief exec Antony Jenkins is banking on a new beginning for Barclays...
Barclays chief executive Antony Jenkins has confirmed the bank will launch a £5.8bn rights issue after it revealed a hole in its balance sheet worth £12.8bn.
Not surprisingly, the bank's shares fell 5.5% in early trading. The gap is related to new leverage rate requirements introduced by the Prudential Regulation Authority. Under the new measure introduced by the PRA, Barclays' leverage ratio is 2.2% - or £12.8bn.
In order to meet the new 3% target to be introduced by the Prudential Regulation Authority by June next year, the bank's board has come up with a 'bold but balanced' plan - 'a combination of: a rights issue; prudent reduction of our leverage exposure; issuance of additional tier 1 securities; and the retention of earnings and other forms of capital accretion,' said Jenkins.
