Barclays 2003 Annual Report Download - page 6

Group Chief Executive’s Statement
Wealth Management
Our third priority is to build a leading wealth management business in
the UK and Europe. Despite the harsh climate of the last couple of years,
this business and its growth and development opportunities remain a
strategic priority for Barclays. During 2003 we took steps to accelerate
our progress, and in doing so to equip Barclays Private Clients (BPC) to
bounce back as the environment for wealth management businesses
worldwide improves. Our ability to offer customers a fully integrated
service for both banking and investment management services means
that we believe we are well placed for success. We started to see some
early improvements in performance during the second half of 2003,
which was accelerated by the acquisition of Charles Schwab Europe
and latterly the acquisition of Gerrard. We expect to build on this base
in 2004.
In addition, by moving our domestic mass affluent business, UK Premier,
to UK Banking, we have refocused BPC on private banking, stockbroking,
investment management and offshore banking. We are moving away
from a model overly dominated by the domestic market to a global
product model which has been successfully implemented in Barclays
Capital, BGI and Barclaycard.
International Retail and Commercial Banking
The fourth strategic priority is to grow our presence in retail and
commercial banking in selected overseas markets. In 2003, we built on
our strong platform in Spain with the acquisition of Banco Zaragozano,
more than doubling our branch network, our customer base and our
assets, while creating further opportunities for in-market synergies.
The Spanish market is one of the strongest in Europe and has a well-
regulated and competitive banking sector, with customers who value
innovation and service.
In October 2003, we announced the creation of Private Clients and
International, under the leadership of David Roberts, to accelerate
growth of retail and commercial banking activities outside the UK –
including our presence in Spain, France, Portugal, Italy, Egypt, Africa,
and the Caribbean – and to build Barclays wealth management
businesses.
Global Businesses
Barclays has made good progress in executing its second strategic
priority through its three distinctive global businesses – Barclaycard,
Barclays Capital and Barclays Global Investors. Each is well placed for
further rapid expansion and we have invested substantially over the
last few years to develop differentiated business models and superior
offerings for our customers and clients.
Barclaycard delivered another record year of results in 2003.
The business demonstrated attractive growth prospects in the UK market
and overseas. Its strong focus on execution, innovation, and customer
service, combined with a prudent approach to risk, provides competitive
advantage. Barclaycard International achieved a full year profit for
the first time. We plan to accelerate the rate of expansion in the
international business. The strategic alliance with the Standard Bank
of South Africa, announced in August 2003, and the launches into the
Republic of Ireland and Portugal in January 2004, represent first steps.
In January 2004, we brought together all Barclays UK consumer credit
business and Barclaycard UK into a single management grouping for
the first time. Barclaycard is led by Gary Hoffman.
Barclays Capital, our financing and risk management focused investment
bank, had a record year.
Barclays Capital demonstrated that it can deliver earnings and growth
on a sustained basis in variable market conditions. This performance
was achieved while we invested heavily in product origination and
distribution capabilities. We continued to diversify the product range
and expanded into new geographies and attracted new clients.
Barclays Capital has an emphasis on financing and risk management that
has been well received by clients around the world. In 2003, we saw good
new issuance volumes and Barclays Capital achieved fourth position in
the global all debt league table. The expansion in the US is particularly
noteworthy, where our growing reputation earned us the lead in 49 dollar
denominated bond issues for US clients compared to only one as recently
as 2000. We achieved a top ten ranking in the US investment grade
corporate debt league table for the first time, more than doubling our
market share. Barclays Capital is well placed to grow further.
Barclays Global Investors (BGI) had a record year and continued to be
a global leader in the institutional investment management market.
BGI now has some US$1 trillion in assets under management, including
over US$100 billion of net new assets acquired during 2003, demonstrating
that the strong investment performance, combined with its proven risk
controlled asset allocation processes and quantitative methodologies,
are attractive to clients. BGI’s Global iShares product range has been
a great success and has catapulted BGI to number one in assets under
management in the exchange traded funds (ETF) market in both the US
and globally. BGI is known as the world’s leading indexer. Less well known
is that its advanced active business has over US$200 billion assets under
management as it extended its successful investment philosophy and
techniques to new areas. We have high expectations for the future.
In October 2003, we announced that Barclays Capital and BGI together
would constitute Wholesale and Institutional, led by Bob Diamond, to
accelerate the development of world class global businesses in these markets.
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