12th Oct 2015 05:27
LONDON (Alliance News) - European investment banks ought to think about merging to compete with US rivals, Barclays Chairman John McFarlane said, the Financial Times reported on Sunday.
"If you did want to create an investment banking champion for Europe, you would have to combine the investment banking arms of the main players, but you would have to swallow really hard and you would need political support," John McFarlane told the FT.
"Americans do have the stronger positions than anyone else, and it is not quite game over but it is very severe."
"If the European politicians and banks are really serious, they can?t just sit there and throw bricks ? they have got to do something about it," he said.
"It could even be Barclays, but we don't think there is any reality in it, which is why we are not pushing aggressively. If there was a decent play that was neutral or accretive for shareholders, we wouldn't be opposed to just joining two investment banks."
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/e7c14fde-6ebe-11e5-8171-ba1968cf791a.html#axzz3oHU3KOAV
By Samuel Agini; [email protected]; @samuelagini
Copyright 2015 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Related Shares:
Barclays