Tag: Barclays

Banks offer data centre storage

Posted on February 25, 2015 by - News

Screen Shot 2015-02-25 at 14.02.45After Santander said a couple of weeks ago that it would offer its data centre for storage, IDC is speculating whether this is going to become a trend.

According to Lawrence Freeborn, a senior research analyst at IDC, this could be the start of a trend, as banks have already invested money in their data centres.

But he does wonder if it’s likely. Banks, he said, have so far only offered storage to ordinary people rather than businesses, although one or two banks offer online cloud storage using Dropbox, or Google Drive and the like.

Banks, he said, are tending to drop safe box products while Barclays provides storage of paper documents rather than safe boxes.

Barclays already offers personal and business customers a cloud storage service for documents such as deeds and the like.

Freeborn said: “Focusing on delivering core offerings well… rather than moving into essentially unrelated services, should always be the guiding principle of any bank. This is the surest way to ensure that a bank can protect its business from the tech companies that are looking to move into banking: much better than trying to move the other way.”

 

British tech firms buoyant about the future

Posted on February 9, 2015 by - News

ukflagA survey commissioned by Barclays’ Bank has revealed that UK IT firms are confident about profits during 2015.
The research indicates that, as an average, the businesses surveyed expect to grow by 11 percent this year.
That figure exceeds the UK GDP forecast for 2015 of 2.6 percent.
And the optimistic IT companies are predicting that 2016 will be even better, with growth for some anticipated to be as much as 20 percent year on year.
Sean Duffy, MD in charge of Barclays’ technology, media and telecoms unit said that the growth predictions reveal the optimism of the UK tech sector.
“The fact that many firms are expecting further growth in 2016 shows that this trend isn’t transient and the UK is a real launch pad for tech businesses,” he said.
Half of the businesses surveyed think that the government gives them enough support to grow. But the biggest challenges for respondents are increased costs and managing cashflow.

Barclays slashes jobs to appease fat cats

Posted on February 12, 2013 by - News

fatter catBarclays has announced that it will be handing out the pink slips to around 3700 of its 140000 staff.

The P45s will be handed to 1,800 bankers in the corporate and investment section, while 1,900 staff at the company’s retail and business banking arm will also face the axe.

The move, announced by the company’s new chief exec Antony Jenkins, forms part of a cost cutting strategic exercise- codenamed “project Transform” – which fat cats hope will see the bank’s total cost base reduced by £1.7 billion to £16.8 billion in 2015.

The bank is also moving to try and appease the public and shareholders claiming that it will close down the controversial tax planning business. It has also set aside £1.6 billion to compensate customers sold payment protection insurance (PPI) and £850 million for people who were sold interest rate hedging products.

And it’s also ensuring it doesn’t get caught up in a fat cat bonus barny, claiming that its
staff bonus pool was down 16 percent in 2012, with the average bonus it paid last year fell 13 percent to £13,300.

Over at the investment arm of the bank, while the average bonus paid to staff fell 17 percent  to £54,100.

The strategy arrives as the bank announced its  latest financials, which showed a rise in profits by 26 percent to £7.05 billion.

Dell sells itself off to Dell and Co

Posted on February 5, 2013 by - News

Michael DellDell has confirmed it has sold itself to Michael Dell and associates for the princely sum of $24.4 billion.

Shareholders of Dell stock will receive $13.65 per share, when the transaction  concludes. That’s a premium of Dell’s share price of $10.88, which was its closing price before rumours of the sale started to surface.

The board of Dell, which includes Michael Dell himself, unanimously approved the merger agreement with Michael Dell and Silver Lake Partners taking the company private.

Dell Inc has appointed a special committee to evaluate alternative proposals in a so-called go-shop period of 45 days.

Michael Dell said he thought the move was an “exciting new chapter for Dell” and its customers.  He said he has put a “substantial amount” of his own capital at risk together with Silver Lake.

After the transaction is completed, Michael Dell will continue as chairman and chief executive officer. Parties affiliated with Silver Lake include Microsoft, Merrill Lynch, Barclays, Credit Suisse and others.