Has Barclays' CEO Jes Staley managed to quieten the naysayers with the latest results?
Barclays announced strong first-quarter trading results on Wednesday, with the biggest percentage increase in markets revenues of the leading investment banks.
Fixed income revenue rose by 106% compared with the first quarter of 2019, on the back of growth in both macro products, such as rates and FX, and credit trading. Equities revenue was up by 21% on higher equity derivatives volumes.
Fixed income is the biggest sales and trading group at Barclays, so strong performance across debt instruments was enough to drive a 77% increase in revenue for its global markets division to £2.42 billion.
UBS unveiled a 99% rise in its fixed income revenue on Tuesday, compared with the first quarter of 2019, which was close to the Barclays increase in percentage terms.
However, UBS has scaled back its presence in debt trading, and its $889 million of fixed income revenue this quarter was little more than a third of the $2.35 billion equivalent generated by Barclays.
The rise in rates and FX revenue may also help to mute any lingering criticism of the appointment of Michael Lublinsky
Deutsche Bank on Wednesday said its first-quarter debt sales and trading revenue was €1.9
