Barclays PLC

Good asset quality relative to U.K. peers over an extended period. Leading market positions in U.K. banking and global wholesale banking. Significant diversity of business lines and customer segments. Lack of a medium-term track record of stable management and consistent strategy. Level of attributable profit lacks predictability. Scope to improve relative efficiency. The negative outlook on Barclays reflects the risk, over our two-year outlook time horizon, of a weaker operating environment following the U.K.'s decision to leave the EU. Specifically, we could revise down our risk position assessment in the event of increasing economic risks associated with Brexit because, unlike its U.K. bank peers, Barclays' anchor is less likely to change owing to its international diversification. With all other factors

...The negative outlook on Barclays reflects the risk, over our two-year outlook time horizon, of a weaker operating environment following the U.K.'s decision to leave the EU. Specifically, we could revise down our risk position assessment in the event of increasing economic risks associated with Brexit because, unlike its U.K. bank peers, Barclays' anchor is less likely to change owing to its international diversification. With all other factors remaining the same, this would result in a one-notch downward adjustment of the UGCP and our lowering of the long-term and short-term issuer credit ratings, and hybrid ratings. We note that Barclays' earnings track record is challenged relative to many global banking peers but we currently assume that earnings performance will gradually improve. We could revise the outlook back to stable if we took a similar action on our assessment of U.K. economic risk, or if we observed sufficient reasons in Barclays' case to offset any potential deterioration...

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