Trading revenue at Barclays declined in the first quarter this year, as it becomes the latest European bank to fall behind US investment banks.
Fixed income was down 1% in the first three months this year to £889 million, while equities trading dropped 10% to £462 million.
Speaking to Bloomberg about the trading results, CEO at Barclays, Jes Staley said: “We didn’t have the uptick that a number of the US banks did… we always want to do better in the markets business.”
Overall, the markets business reported a 4% decrease in revenues from £1.4 billion to £1.35 billion.
This week Deutsche Bank’s markets business decreased 8% with equities trading falling 10% compared to the first quarter last year.
Although the German bank saw an increase in fixed income trading, the growth lags significantly behind its US counterparts who reported surges of almost 30% in the first quarter.
JP Morgan’s markets and investor services business saw a 17% increase in revenues in the first quarter this year, driven by a 17% surge in fixed income sales.
Similarly, at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, fixed income trading revenues soared a significant 29% in the first quarter to $2.9 billion.