Barclays gets a pass from Wall Street.
Stock in the British bank, which has been beset by one scandal after another, rose 4.2 percent Wednesday after the company reported that Chief Executive Officer Antony Jenkins’ downsizing plans are already starting to pay off.
The bank’s net income rose to 161 million pounds, or about $272 million, up from a loss of nearly that much a year ago as Barclay’s shed jobs globally and transferred risky assets to a “bad bank.”
In May, Jenkins announced the company would cut 19,000 jobs, with about a third of them in investment banking.
“Cost is the new battleground for our industry,” he said in prepared remarks.
Jenkins has helmed an “ongoing cultural change,” he said in a statement, since his predecessor resigned about two years ago in the wake of the Libor rigging scandal.
“Our sector faces unprecedented scrutiny — for reasons I understand and accept,” Jenkins said.
In June, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced a lawsuit against Barclays’ little-regulated “dark pool” trading platform, claiming it gave predatory traders preferential treatment and lied about how much traffic it diverts to other platforms.
Jenkins said the suit isn’t “justified.” The bank moved to dismiss the suit last week.