Jes Staley has, at least in his own mind and in the minds of enough Barclays shareholders to keep this guy off its board for now, done enough to prove that he should still get to have an investment bank. Unfortunately, his pleas for Edward Bramson to shut up and go away, and Bramson’s quite decisive defeat in his proxy battle with the bank, haven’t yet convinced Bramson.
After Mr. Bramson lost a shareholder vote for a board seat in May, he said his firm would give the bank “a quarter or two” and see what happens before mounting any fresh campaign for change.
Well, a quarter has gone by, and it’s not the kind of quarter likely to make Bramson reconsider his call for Staley to reconsider how he runs a bank. Profit down nearly a fifth, bad loans up nearly three-quarters, operating costs up 6%. And, most painfully of all,
In Barclays’ international division, which includes its corporate and investment bank, revenue was up 5%, mainly because of a gain from selling shares in a business it partially owned. Without that extra boost, revenue in its markets business was down 5%. Banking fees fell 1%.