London, Feb 15, 2026, 11:33 GMT — Market closed
- Barclays closed Friday at 454p, down 2.07%, with trading volume above its 50-day average and the stock about 10% below its Feb. 4 52-week high. (MarketWatch)
- Barclays said it has repurchased 7,289,750 shares since its buyback began, at a volume-weighted average price of 480.4403p. (TradingView)
- The Bank of England’s next rate decision is due March 19, with Bank Rate at 3.75%. (Bank of England)
Barclays shares ended Friday down 2.1% at 454p, closing out the week on a softer note as London markets headed into the weekend break. Trading resumes on Monday, with investors looking for fresh direction in UK banks after a choppy spell. (Hargreaves Lansdown)
The pullback matters because UK lenders still trade as a rates story. Markets have been leaning toward earlier rate cuts, and traders have treated that as a test for bank earnings power — particularly net interest margin, the spread between what banks earn on loans and pay on deposits. (Reuters)
Earlier in the week, Barclays lifted targets and set out plans to return more than £15 billion to shareholders over 2026-2028, including buybacks and dividends. It also raised its return on tangible equity goal — a profitability yardstick that strips out goodwill and other intangibles. (Reuters)
On the capital return, Barclays said in a stock exchange notice that it bought 4,159,750 shares on Feb. 11 for cancellation, paying between 474.2p and 487.95p, at a volume-weighted average price of 481.3216p. The volume-weighted price is simply the average price, weighted by how much stock traded at each level. (Investegate)
Another filing showed chairman Nigel Higgins acquired 6,769 shares at 480.8p, and non-executive directors also bought shares at the same price under a policy that uses part of their fees to purchase stock and hold it until they leave the board. (Investegate)
Bank earnings and deal headlines are also driving the tape. NatWest on Friday lifted its targets and announced a 750 million pound buyback for the first half of 2026 as it pushes deeper into wealth management, and CEO Paul Thwaite said it was “raising our ambition and sharpening our strategic focus”. (Reuters)
The Bank of England remains the bigger swing factor. Chief Economist Huw Pill said “underlying inflation” was around 2.5% and argued rates were “a little bit too low”, after the central bank held Bank Rate at 3.75% in a split 5-4 vote earlier in the month. (Reuters)
Away from rates, Barclays is among financial firms backing LSEG’s plan to build an “on-chain” settlement service for institutional investors, designed to connect traditional and digital securities markets, LSEG said. The project is still early-stage, but it keeps attention on market structure and trading activity — areas tied to investment banking revenues. (Reuters)
But there are risks on both sides of the trade. A quicker-than-expected move toward lower rates could pressure bank interest income, while the U.S. political push to cap credit card interest rates has already shown it can rattle Barclays because of its sizeable U.S. card business, which Hargreaves Lansdown’s Matt Britzman has said accounts for about 11% of group profits. (Reuters)
Next up, traders will be watching for fresh signals from the sector, with HSBC due to publish annual results on Feb. 25. U.S. markets are shut on Monday for Washington’s Birthday, a calendar quirk that can thin early-week flows in bank ADRs and leave London to set the tone. (HSBC)
