LONDON, March 26, 2026, 13:26 GMT
Barclays shares fell 2.8% to 383.25 pence in early Thursday trade, giving back the prior session’s 2.64% rise to 394.20 pence. 1
The drop came a day after Reuters reported Barclays was pulling back from some smaller collateral-backed lending deals after losses tied to the collapses of Market Financial Solutions and Tricolor Holdings. The bank is shifting toward bigger corporate clients, and Reuters reported Barclays is owed 495 million pounds from MFS; Barclays declined to comment. 2
The timing matters. Investors are already waiting for the Financial Conduct Authority to publish its motor-finance compensation plan shortly after markets close on March 30, while Reuters has reported that Barclays, Lloyds, Santander and Close Brothers are among lenders that could be hit by the watchdog’s broader proposal, first outlined at 11 billion pounds last October. 3
The broader market was weak too. London’s FTSE 100 was down 1.1% by 1013 GMT on Thursday as uncertainty over the Middle East conflict weighed on sentiment, offering little cover to bank stocks. 4
Investors have been primed to treat fresh trouble as more than a one-off. When MFS first rattled bank shares in February, Joe Saluzzi, co-head of equity trading at Themis Trading, said: “We’re starting to continue to see these types of things pop up, which is definitely a problem,” as Barclays and Jefferies sold off and Santander shares dropped nearly 5%. 5
The pressure is not confined to Barclays. Jefferies said this week that first-quarter earnings took a $17 million hit from loan losses linked to MFS and bankrupt auto-parts maker First Brands, another sign that losses tied to these types of financing deals are still feeding into bank results. 6
That sits awkwardly beside Barclays’ longer-term pitch to investors. In February, the bank reported 2025 pretax profit of 9.1 billion pounds, raised its target for return on tangible equity — a common measure of bank profitability — to more than 14% by 2028, and said it planned to return more than 15 billion pounds of capital to shareholders over 2026-2028. 7
But the near-term picture is still fragile. Reuters reported on Wednesday that bonds issued by private-credit funds — funds that make loans outside public markets — were trading at their weakest levels in a year, with Fourier Asset Management calling the strain the biggest liquidity stress test yet for that $2 trillion corner of finance, suggesting Barclays may remain exposed to wider sector nerves even if its own direct losses do not deepen. 8
