Barclays

[Steveam]

I know very little about Barclays as HSBC has been my bank of choice for investment for many years but the numbers at Barclays are looking quite attractive. I'm tempted to take a (small) position here in the hope of a relatively quick +25%. I think I'd be betting as much on regulatory behaviour as on the bank's likely performance.

Any thoughts and ideas welcomed.

Best wishes,

Steve

[hiriskpaul]

Need to read some more about this, my initial reaction though was that this might put their US banking license at risk. My only exposure is through the USD pref BCS-D, which has not really budged as it is likely to be called this year, so is glued to par. Or was likely to be called. Maybe they will have difficulty doing that now? I have a fairly significant position, so might sell some anyway.

Might be worthwhile watching for any bargains in their debt. Personally, I would not touch the equity.

[ADrunkenMarcus]

I don't have full premium access but this Telegraph article tells people to 'keep the faith':

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/201 ... ack-knife/

Barclays looks better placed than it has been for almost a decade, in terms of improving return on equity, capital strength and future dividend capacity IMHO.

Best wishes

Mark.