Barclays Plc's equities trading revenue matched its fixed income, currencies and commodities (FICC) business in Q3 2024 — the first time since acquiring Lehman Brothers' North American investment bank in 2008. CEO CS Venkatakrishnan said the bank is "rebalancing towards equities" as prime brokerage booms, driven by hedge fund demand for financing amid volatile Asian semiconductor stocks. Equities growth helped offset a 19% year-over-year drop in fixed income revenue, which suffered from elevated interest rates and an extra Fed rate hike.
Barclays reported ahead of European peers BNP Paribas SA and UBS Group AG, both of which have also seen equities surges. JPMorgan analysts noted Barclays' equities revenue jumped 43%, beating the US peer average. Since Venkatakrishnan took over in 2021, prime balances have "increased tremendously," with capital diverted from macro trading to prime brokerage.
In 2009, FICC brought in £13 billion versus £2.8 billion from equities; the gap has now closed.
Source: Bloomberg Markets · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing