Barclays Bank today announced record profits of £4.6bn in 2004. In the coming days the other four leading banks HSBC, Lloyds TSB, NatWest and HBOS are to announce their own results. It is expected that the combined profits of these five banks will top £30bn - equivalent to £1,000 a second.
These Banks have come under universal criticism for what many see as their excessive charges to customers. To charge customers £27 for a transaction is way too high when you are making £1000 a second.
Case for the banking ombudsmen to investigate the banks and their charges, especially in relation to small customers.
Barclays shares fall as the City sees through a 20% rise in full-year profits and the bank dismisses takeover talk.
If the American Citibank really does have its eye on Barclays, now is the time to move because chief executive John Varley said being taken over is ‘the last thing’ on his mind.
'We’ve come into 2005 with tremendous momentum after a record 2004 and we won’t be distracted by market speculation,’ he said in a conference call to journalists.
Arguably, Barclays has enough on its plate trying to buy a majority stake in Absa in South Africa. Regulatory authorities continue to scrutinise the deal months after it was first proposed, Barclays said.
Barclays’ preliminary figures for the year to 31 December showed profits before tax 20% higher at £4.603 billion, at the top end of the £4.538-4.612 billion range predicted by analysts.
That is great. Way to go Barclays. By the comment from the analysts that seems like they were surprised too.
What is the 27 pound charge for? When you say $1000 a second, is that all retail or does it include profits from commercial and investment banking also?
Includes profit from all activities. While it is great for these banks, they should really look at their charges for the small customers. Charges like the £27 are what they call administrative charges, if they have to send you, for example, a letter. Bit steep.
That is way too excessive I agree. Is that 27pnd charge per instance for an inquiry? I thought most of these banks had outsourced to India already, particularly their customer service. I am assuming it is do with investigations and resolutions on inquiries which is understandable as it doesn;t happen all that often.
The outsourced savings are going straight to the bottom line and contributing to the £1000/second profit. The £27 could just be for a letter to a customer informing him that a cheque from his account has not been paid because of insufficient funds.
they have reached to this figure by apply silly policies that work only for them
ie, check clearance in 3-5 days while money is taken out of the payer on day first. and guess what, invested for 3-5 days imagine doing this with volume of check payments daily.?
other loophole even if you pay cash to pay your bil on last day, even if the card issued by same bank will take again some days to reach the account. so they will slap 25 - 30 pounds for late fee even you have paid on time :)