Summary: Barclays Bank 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. Lacks 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 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

...The negative outlook on Barclays reflects the risk 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 unsupported group credit profile (GCP) and our subsequent lowering of the long- and short-term counterparty credit ratings, and hybrid ratings. 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 of the U.K. banking environment. This might be due to the bank's capital and earnings strengthening more than expected or if we observed further progress with strategy...

Summary