Barclay’s Global Investors manage 65 of the world’s 100 largest pension plans and is growing its assets under management with exchange traded funds (ETFs). Bank of America, currently the second-largest bank in the U.S. by market capitalization, is interested in bidding for Barclay’s, the third largest bank in the U.K. by market capitalization. This would give BofA a dominant international presence, not to mention, a major U.K. retail and commercial bank, huge credit card business and basket of successful ETFs, reports Ieva M. Augstums. BofA wants to acquire leadership in global businesses like treasury management, asset management, and fixed-income underwriting and trading.
Although this merger is market speculation, Barclay’s does provide diversification and a hedge against the falling dollar. This would affect Barclay’s operations in 37 other countries outside the U.K. and Africa as well. Barclay’s also has better revenue and earnings growth than BofA or Citigroup, told by Asif Suria of Seeking Alpha.
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