Imogen Calderwood
BARCLAYS bank is said to be plotting a way out of Spain after years of making huge losses.
The British bank recorded a loss of €681 million between 2011 and 2013 and has halved its number of offices and cut staff by a third during that period.
Executives in Madrid were issued an ultimatum in 2012 and as the situation has not improved London bosses are now preparing to exit Spain, according to reports in the Spanish national press.
Market experts have suggested that Sabadell and Bankinter might be interested in the most profitable part of the business: wealth management.
Barclays arrived in Spain exactly 40 years ago and grew to become the country’s fifth largest bank and biggest foreign lender.
The Olive Press revealed it was closing dozens of branches around Andalucia last July.
We reported how it was closing 35% of its branches with the loss of 1000 jobs.
I once noticed a number of Barclays branches while in Madrid – a few years back – and checked on the Internet to see how many they had within ‘city limits’. This is about 2009.
There was 57. The thing is, everything else being equal, the Spanish will prefer to use Spanish banks…
My family has used this “bank” in many locations over years – “So good riddance to bad rubbish!”
“The British bank recorded a loss of €681 million between 2011 and 2013 and has halved its number of offices and cut staff by a third during that period.’ – that should yield a 10MM GBP bonus to CEO – what a joke on Taxpayers! No Jail?
Rats and sinking ships comes to mind….
You should not refer to your family as “rubbish” just because you would like to get rid of them. LOL
I have quite a few shares in Barclays so I am happy they are cutting the dead wood out. They need to give higher dividends to the shareholders as it was poor this year. Thousands of jobs are going around the world at Barclays this year.