LONDON, June 10, 2026, 10:01 BST
Barclays PLC shares slipped again in London on Wednesday after Tuesday’s drop, with pressure still on UK bank stocks. The move comes after the bank cut retail-investing fees and continued its buyback.
Barclays shares fell 0.4% to 446.25 pence by 09:56 BST, after starting the session at 448.65 pence. NatWest nudged up, while Lloyds slipped, so UK bank shares were mixed.
FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 stayed near three-week lows earlier, keeping the market under pressure. Banks lagged as investors watched Middle East tensions, crude prices and interest rates. HSBC and Standard Chartered, which have more Asia exposure, slipped in early trade.
Barclays finished Tuesday down 1.77% at around £4.48, falling as the FTSE 100 shed 1.41%. Trading volume hit 31.8 million shares, trailing the 50-day average of 55.5 million, so the fall didn’t come on big selling.
Barclays’ wealth division has dropped the monthly fee for its Direct Investing platform. The bank had been charging 0.25% up to £200,000 and 0.05% over that. Sasha Wiggins, chief executive of Barclays Private Bank and Wealth Management, said scrapping the fee should let customers “invest with confidence.” MoneyWeek
Barclays is dropping its monthly customer fee for self-directed investors, setting up more direct competition with platforms like Hargreaves Lansdown, AJ Bell, Fidelity and Freetrade. “A very big move” for the direct-investing market, Boring Money CEO Holly Mackay said. Morningstar
Barclays has kept up its share buyback pace. The bank said in a Monday filing that it purchased 14.75 million ordinary shares for cancellation between June 1 and June 5. Total shares bought back under the programme, which kicked off April 29, now stand at 68.62 million at an average of 439.9599 pence per share. Buybacks cut the share count by cancelling repurchased stock.
Barclays set first-quarter numbers that kept the investor debate in play. The bank posted return on tangible equity at 13.5%, and stuck to its 2026 and 2028 goals. A £500 million share buyback is coming. CEO C.S. Venkatakrishnan said it was a “solid quarter.” Investegate
Risks remain. In April, Reuters said Barclays booked a £228 million charge linked to the MFS collapse and bumped up provisions for UK car-finance claims. The bank also set a new £500 million buyback, which analysts saw as light. That’s the bear case—better trading and capital returns may not offset higher credit costs, regulatory outlays, or softer markets cutting into profits.
Barclays posted a “small income beat” in its results, according to Hargreaves Lansdown senior equity analyst Matt Britzman, but profit was held in check by higher costs and impairments. That’s still the sticking point for the shares Wednesday. The results weren’t enough to get the stock moving in a weaker bank sector. Hl
