Australia presents "tremendous growth opportunities" for the bank, executive says
UK bank Barclays has announced that the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority has authorised Barclays Bank to operate as a foreign authorised deposit-taking institution in Australia. Barclays Bank PLC Australia Branch is set to go live as a foreign bank branch in April.
Australia is an important part of Barclays’ growth plans in the region, the bank said. Establishing the branch in Sydney will enable the bank to grow its client base and deliver more to its Australian corporate and institutional clients.
“Australia represents tremendous growth opportunities and is an important financial services market in the region,” said Jaideep Khanna, head of Barclays, Asia-Pacific. “This foreign ADI license reinforces our commitment to Australia and enables us to proactively serve our clients with our global corporate & investment bank platform, supporting their cross-border growth ambitions even further.”
Under the direction of Richard Satchwell, country CEO and head of investment banking, Australia, for Barclays, the bank has been active locally in the Australian leveraged finance market, has been among the strongest banks for offshore capital markets and has played an active role in offering environmental, social and corporate governance services. Satchwell will continue to lead the bank’s Australia growth initiatives and build on the momentum with its local strategic partner, Barrenjoey Capital Partners.
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“The ADI license granted to Barclays is an important step in demonstrating to clients our commitment to the Australian financial market,” Satchwell said. “Barclays has built momentum steadily in our business over the past few years. We announced our strategic investment in Barrenjoey Capital Partners in September 2020, and are already seeing results of the investment with a stronger pipeline of transactions one year on. Today’s news on the ADI license is another landmark and will further accelerate our plans to deepen the dialogue with Australian and global clients looking for opportunities in Australia.”
Barclays re-established its Australia office in 2018. It is a corporate and investment bank in the Asia-Pacific region, operating in key markets including Australia, China/Hong Kong, India, Japan and Singapore.
