Mumbai: Barclays Plc is in advanced preparations to restart the equity capital market (ECM) business in India, ten years after the London-headquartered bank shut down its ECM and allied broking and research divisions as part of an Asia-wide purge, said people familiar with the development.

The bank is scouting for senior executives to start operations as it wants to take a larger wallet share of corpo rate clients for whom it does debt and mergers and acquisitions (M&A) advisory currently, the people said, adding that the new vertical could be up and running in the next few months.

“It is now an open evaluation and a decision will be made in the next couple of months. The logic is to get a higher share of client wallets which continue to be serviced in India. The bank has an established business on the debt side and M&A with a lot of large clients. It makes sense to expand in this side of the business to deepen the franchise and gain market share,” said one of the persons, who did not wish to be identified.

A Barclays spokesperson declined to comment in response to ET’s queries. In January 2016, Barclays had discontinued the ECM business in India as part of a reduction in operations in nine markets, mostly in Asia, including India. The move was part of then CEO Jes Staley’s plans to reduce operations in markets where the bank was uncompetitive, in an attempt to conserve capital.

In India the bank had discontinued ECM, broking and research operations, cutting about 25 jobs, ET had reported then. Full bank operations were shut in Taiwan, South Korea, Malaysia, Thailand, Australia, the Philippines and Indonesia.

The renewed push to start ECM operations in India is aimed at ensuring that the bank offers a full bouquet of products to its clients in India. The bank services only corporate clients in the country. “When the ECM business was running in India the bank was doing well. ECM was still profitable. It suffered collateral damage because the bank decided to shut down the business in Asia, mainly because China was a difficult market to make it. This is now a fresh start,” said a second person.

Volatile fuel costs could add turbulence to your summer trip.

Gas prices have surged in recent weeks in tandem with war-driven volatility in crude oil markets. The national per-gallon average increased more than 10% over the past week, according to AAA, and it’s up even more in states including Utah, California, Florida and New Jersey.

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Crude oil prices ticked higher on Monday, pushing US crude firmly above $100 per barrel after US President Donald Trump warned Iran that its crucial oil export hub on Kharg Island could become a potential target, raising fears of fresh disruption to global energy supplies.

Crude oil price on March 16

Brent crude also climbed by nearly a percent to trade above almost $105 per barrel in early trade. It traded marginally lower in early hours.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump said he had ordered strikes on Iranian military assets on Kharg Island on Friday but avoided targeting oil infrastructure. However, he warned that if Iran continues attacking tankers in the Strait of Hormuz, the US could reconsider its decision.

The development gains significance as Kharg Island holds critical importance for Iran’s oil exports. Data shows that nearly 90% of the country’s oil shipments pass through the island.

A direct strike on the island’s export terminal would affect the majority of Iran’s crude exports. Such an attack could also trigger retaliation from Iran, either in the Strait of Hormuz or against energy infrastructure across the region, experts say.

Separately, Iranian drones struck a key oil terminal in Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates shortly after the attacks on Kharg. Four sources said oil loading operations at Fujairah have since resumed, although it remains unclear whether activity has returned fully to normal.
Fujairah, which lies outside the Strait of Hormuz, serves as the export outlet for about 1 million barrels per day of the UAE’s flagship Murban crude, a volume that accounts for roughly 1% of global demand.The US is also evaluating several high risk options on the ground. These include raiding Iranian nuclear sites to seize enriched uranium, taking control of the Kharg Island oil hub, and occupying parts of southern Iran to secure the Strait of Hormuz. He noted that each of these options would mark a significant escalation and carry substantially higher risk, SEB analyst Erik Meyersson told Reuters.

US-Iran talks soon?

US President Donald Trump said Sunday that the United States was in discussions with Iran as the war enters its third week but that Tehran was not ready for a deal to end it.

“Yes, we’re talking to them,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One, without detailing the nature of such talks, when asked if there was any diplomacy under way to end a conflict that has spread across the Middle East and roiled global markets.

“But I don’t think they’re ready. But they are getting pretty close,” Trump said. Iran’s foreign minister earlier denied any talks with the United States were taking place.

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