Barclays Selects JPMorgan to Replace Credit Suisse as Broker 

Barclays

Barclays Plc picked JPMorgan Chase & Co. to replace Credit Suisse Group AG as a corporate broker amid a review of the bank’s performance by new Chairman John McFarlane. Deutsche Bank AG retained its advisory role.

JPMorgan was chosen after Barclays invited pitches for the two broking positions last month, a company spokeswoman said on Wednesday. Bank of America Corp., Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and UBS Group AG also bid, a person with knowledge of the matter said May 28.

McFarlane, 68, replaced David Walker in April, vowing to speed up the lender’s overhaul introduced under Chief Executive Officer Antony Jenkins to improve profitability and investor returns. Brokers typically advise companies and support their relations with investors for minimal fees, in the expectation of winning more lucrative business, such as arranging debt deals or initial public offerings.

The chairman is holding a board meeting on Thursday where the divisional heads at Barclays will outline their plans for the coming year.

The bank is also reviewing its auditor, the person said last month. The lender has been with PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP for more than a century.

Credit Suisse had been a broker to Barclays for 25 years, whereas Deutsche Bank won the position in 2011. JPMorgan’s appointment as corporate broker was reported by Sky News earlier.

Top Adviser

JPMorgan is Barclays’s top adviser for mergers and acquisitions globally, beating even the British bank’s in-house investment-bank advisers, which ranked second, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Credit Suisse was ranked third in advisory and Deutsche Bank eighth, the data show.

The Swiss investment bank has been losing market share in advising clients on mergers and stock sales in Europe. The firm has focused on boosting returns rather than league-table rankings, the bank said in April, adding it remains committed to clients in the region and filling gaps in coverage. Credit Suisse spokeswoman Vanessa Neill declined to comment on Barclays’s decision.

Barclays’s own head of corporate broking, Alisdair Gayne, last month decided to stay at the British bank after it offered him more money, a person with knowledge of the matter said at the time. He was close to accepting an offer from UBS to be chairman of its U.K. investment bank.

Source: Bloomberg – Barclays Selects JPMorgan to Replace Credit Suisse as Broker

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