So now Barclays posts its profits

Sans Bateau

Sans Bateau

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You may have heard on the news this morning that Barclays Bank has just anounced huge profits, up 20% on last year. This will, I am sure be followed closely by massive profits in the other banking institutions.

These profit anouncements follow on from the enourmous profits posted, last week by Shell & BP etc. There is one common factor which effects the profits of these giants; us the public. The profits of these companies are representative of how much they have been able to squeeze out of our pockets.

Where as, the rest of us who run our own business, where we have to bid to get the job, and all to often, the cheapest wins the work, profits are tough.

It must be bliss, to have a business where your market is at your mercy, where you can charge what you want and get away with it!
 
Agreed

What is even scarier is to contemplate how much Shell would have made if one of the most active skuttlebutters' actually did some work instead of posting on here all day long.
 
That could only mean that he is late for work this morning.
 
Capitalism, huh. Don't you just hate it. We'd clearly all be better off living in China or North Korea. By the way, Barclays, BP, etc pay rather large tax bills on those profits which go someway to funding all the schools and hospitals Gordo's got planned for us. For the sake of my pension, I hope Barclays, BP, Vodafone, etc etc all continue to do well in coming years. By the way, I'm a Barclays banking customer, pay absolutely nothing for a full retail banking service, so can't really complain at that either.
 
Just a note.....

.. their retail banking section actually suffered a drop in profits. The increase was down to their investment division.

You DO want to retire with adequate financial support don't you?

Steve Cronin
 
Don't worry, come the revolution the bankers will be the first against the wall. Followed by the lawyers, estate agents, traffic wardens.......
 
One day during the French revolution, three men were led up to the guillotine to die. One was a lawyer, one was a banker, and the third was an engineer.

The lawyer was to die first. He was led to the guillotine, the attending priest blessed him, and he knelt with his head on the guillotine. The blade was released, but stopped halfway down its path. The priest, seeing an opportunity, quickly said, "Gentlemen, God has spoken and said this man is to be spared; we cannot kill him." The executioner agreed, and the lawyer was set free.

The banker was next. He was blessed by the priest, then knelt and placed his head down. The blade was released, and again stopped halfway down. Again the priest intervened: "Gentlemen, God has again spoken; we cannot kill this man." The executioner agreed and the banker was set free.

At last it was the engineer's turn. He was blessed by the priest, and knelt, but before he placed his head on the guillotine he looked up. Suddenly, he leapt to his feet and cried, "Oh, I see the problem!"
 
Re: Barclays, BP, etc pay rather large tax bills on those profits

Cash tax paid (ie not P&L tax) for 2004: £690m. That's quite a few teachers, hospitals, etc. True, that's lower than the P&L tax of £1.3bn, but still a substantial amount of money. And as long as its legal, we all try and minmise our tax liabilities don't we?
 
Ever since the glory tory days of 15% interest rates the banks have deemed it their right to make huge unearned profits unrelated to the quality of their service.

The 'competition' in the market place is based on the same attitude of all the banks so does nothing to improve the lot of the punter.

These profits are no indication of the real value of the service offered.
 
As I said above, I get a service where Barclays steward my cash, allow me to make payments, withdraw cash from a little machine in the wall, set up standing orders and direct debits, and as long as I follow a few rules such as avoiding going overdrawn, it costs me absolutely nothing. Now there aren't many services where you get something for nothing, so I'm perfectly happy with that, thank you.
 
You aren't getting something for nothing. They have your cash to play with the interest on which is going in their pocket not yours.

In the days before the ERM debacle bank lending rates were usually expressed as so much% over base rate and is still a useful way of looking at things.

You are in a good position compared with huge numbers of ordinary people if you have no borrowings at all. If the norm was different you would be charged heavily for the priviledge of allowing the bank to look after your money. It is the borrowers who are paying extortionate rates who keep your banking 'free'.
 
Hmm

Perhaps we should all be celebrating that fact that some british companies (BP, Barclays etc are also very large on the global scale) are having success? Or has everybody been so brainwashed by Gordon, that we now all believe that 'profit' is a naughty word? The attitude that bashes Barclays, BP et al for making large profits is but a small distance away from the attitiude of "all boat owners are rich bastards so we must tax them and stop them owning such obscene items".
As has been mentioned here also, just think for a moment about the amazing service which retail banks GIVE you for free.
And for all the lefty gordonites around - where exactly do you think your pension fund growth and security comes from?
Don't knock the private sector wealth generators, they are the head of the dog which wags the public sector tail. Without the wealth generators, there is no tax, no teachers, no nurses, no hospitals.
 
I didn't say I have no borrowings, I'm just smart enough not to have them with Barclays. Last time I looked there was plenty of competition for personal credit, mortgage deals, etc , so if a large percentage of the population are daft enough not to shop around with financial services, like they would if they were buying a car, dishwasher or whatever, then more fool them. Anyway, Joe Public can't have a massive problem with the cost of debt / banking, given the record levels of personal debt the UK seems to have run up over the last few years...although that's another debate entirely.
 
Yet another case of profits not reflecting the true profitability of the company.

They can thank the oil producers for jacking up prices for that.

I am not knocking the notion of profit. It is the distortion of apparent performance by factors of chance or usuary I object to.
 
Strange to see people not celebrating when businesses in their country are doing well. Is that what they call the "British disease"?

John
 
I am very pleased to see British business to be doing so well. It has been suggested that the profits made from Shell BP Barclays etc will have a positive effect on pensions. Forgot about that, so suppose the pension funds will go up by 20% as well?

My real point is that the Banks and the oil companies have a captive market, they dont have to realy fight to get their share of the business. The supermarkets (dont you just love them) are far more representative of the real world as it is today. Tescos have done well, as a result of investment and hard work, OK at the expense of other, thats competion.

However the business sectors we are talking about can and do charge what they want, when they want. Just try running a business bank account! They make huge profit with little effort. It was said last week on Radio 4 that the profit made by Shell could have been achieved without them doing anything. If anyone believes that the tax from Shell etc will finish up in the form of a new school or hospital is IMHO living in a dream world.

I am a capitalist, having spent 90% of my working life running my own business, I know what the real world is all about. I just wish I could charge my customers exactly what I wanted, and them having to accept it.
 
[ QUOTE ]
If anyone believes that the tax from Shell etc will finish up in the form of a new school or hospital is IMHO living in a dream world.

[/ QUOTE ]

That's a political / Gordo issue, not Shell's. They pay the tax, Mr Brown decides how to spend it. I've no idea where my tax goes either, given the state of local schools and hospitals, but all I can do is pay the man at the Revenue, and vote every four years.

Not sure supermarkets are a great example to hold up: look what they've done to food production in this country; small quality farmers (dairy in particular) completely shafted by their buying power. If I want a loan or a mortgage there are literally hundreds of competing products out there: looks competitive to me, although I do accept I'm looking at this from a personal customer perspective: I don't have experience of small business banking.
 
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