HOW DO THE RESULTS FROM BARCLAYS AND HSBC COMPARE WITH EACH OTHER?
JAAP MEIJER EVOLUTION
We failed to be particularly excited by HSBC as it seems more of a turnaround story with cost-cutting and bad debts peaking. By contrast, we feel Barclays Capital can truly be made into an immensely profitable business post-acquisition of Lehman Brothers – currently the numbers are spoiled by large impairments but when they go away we will see the true underlying profitability of this bank.
DAVID JONES IG INDEX
Numbers from Barclays saw profits down by almost 20 per cent while HSBC paints a more upbeat picture. After seeing such strong gains since the March lows, the likes of Barclays and RBS seem to have lost the interest of the market in recent months and today’s figures look likely to continue steering investors towards the perceived safe pair of hands that is HSBC, if they really want exposure to banks.
JONATHAN JACKSON KILLIK & CO
Both Barclays and HSBC saw first-half momentum continue into the third quarter, and both have come out well from the crisis without government help. HSBC is in a slightly stronger position – its major concern was the US consumer credit business, which it said is not getting any worse despite rising unemployment, while numbers from Barclays Capital were perhaps not quite as positive as expected.