Barclays credit rating outlook cut by Moody's and S&P

Published: 5 July 2012 y., Thursday

Rating agencies Moody's and Standard and Poor's have lowered their outlook on Barclays from stable to negative amid the bank rate-rigging scandal.

Moody's said shareholder and political pressure was creating uncertainty about the bank's future.

S&P said the emergence of "weak business practices" had hit the company's prospects.

The move comes a day after ex-Barclays chief executive Bob Diamond told MPs the rate fixing was "reprehensible".

MPs will vote later on whether to have a judge-led inquiry over the scandal, favoured by the opposition, or a parliamentary one, favoured by ministers.

Moody's said pressure on the bank could force it to move away from investment banking.

"Although this could have potentially positive implications over the longer term, the uncertainty surrounding such a change in direction is credit negative in the short term," the agency said.

It added that Barclays may find it difficult to replace Mr Diamond, chief operating officer Jerry del Missier, and chairman Marcus Agius, all of whom resigned this week. Mr Agius is staying on at the bank to oversee finding a replacement for Mr Diamond, but will step down once someone has been found.

S&P said "weak compliance" and "current management flux" had knocked the company's outlook.

 

Šaltinis: BBC
Copying, publishing, announcing any information from the News.lt portal without written permission of News.lt editorial office is prohibited.

Facebook Comments

New comment


Captcha

Associated articles

Barclays COO Jerry Del Missier resigns

The interest rate rigging scandal at Barclays claimed its third high-profile victim late on Tuesday when chief operative officer Jerry Del Missier resigned with immediate effect. more »

Related videos

05/02/2014

Padėkime augti

Nokia offers augmented reality job search

Mobile phone giant Nokia is enlisting Britain’s young entrepreneurs to build new businesses using its career services app, JobLens. Launched in June, JobLens is a Windows Phone 8 app that helps users search for jobs in their local area. more »