Barclays, the colossal banking entity from the United Kingdom, has reported a rise in its balance sheet for its Dublin-based European Union headquarters by more than 5 per cent within the first half of the year, hitting €150 billion. This comes as the bank explores potentially relocating the hub to Paris.
The asset foundation of Barclays Bank Ireland, which is internally identified as Barclays Europe and is the group’s principal legal body within the European Economic Area, included €4.39 billion worth of loans from its German consumer finance sector that it agreed to sell to Bawag, an Austrian bank, last month. This information was revealed in its most recent provisional report.
The amplification in assets was partially fuelled by an expansion in trading portfolio assets, primarily due to holding tradable securities such as bonds and equities. This preparation allows them to provide rates to clients wanting to purchase and trade assets, an operation known as market making.
After the Bank of Ireland, this makes Barclays the largest bank by assets in the Republic. Yet, it seems their Paris office is gradually evolving into a trading hub. Following Brexit, the UK group announced that it contemplated shifting its EU headquarters from Dublin to Paris. They have stressed that this would only impact “a small number” of Dublin roles.
In response to Brexit results, Barclays and Bank of America were the sole large international banks that selected Dublin as their primary hub within the union. Prior to the Brexit vote, Citigroup had already formed its EU base in the State.
The fiscal results for Barclays Bank Ireland demonstrated a dramatic shift from a €174 million profit the previous year to a €102 million pretax loss in the first half of this year. This has been attributed to a €252 million loss on the sale of its Italian social mortgage portfolio.