Barclays Plc’s Chief Executive Officer CS Venkatakrishnan said a windfall tax on banks in the UK could hinder the government’s push to boost growth in the economy and urged the government to consider other measures. With UK lenders employing about 10% of the population in the country, an additional tax would hurt a key sector in the economy, Venkatakrishnan told investors at a conference the London-based bank hosted in New York. He also argued UK lenders already pay a higher rate than their peers in the US and across Europe. “The route to growth is through investment, through appropriate forms of spending and taxation, but not through a bank tax,” Venkatakrishnan said. “Additional bank taxes would be damaging to the economy as a whole.” Venkatakrishnan’s comments come after shares of UK lenders slumped last month as Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves faced renewed calls to raise billions of pounds of much-needed revenue by imposing a windfall tax on banks. In a report on Aug. 29, the Institute for Public Policy Research said an annual levy would raise £32.3 billion across the current five-year parliamentary term and give Reeves £3.6 billion of extra headroom against her main fiscal rule that taxes must cover day-to-day spending in 2029-30. Reeves has previously said she had no plans to change the way interest is paid on the Bank of England’s reserves. But she’s now facing a more difficult autumn budget, with Bloomberg Economics estimating the chancellor will need to find £30 billion to rebuild the slender £9.9 billion buffer against her fiscal rule that she had in March. In the wide-ranging conversation, Venkatakrishnan said Barclays has seen a sustained pick up in investment banking activity recently with clients feeling a relative sense of stability about the future of tariff policy and the macroeconomic situation around the world. He expects that to carry through the remainder of the third quarter and into the fourth quarter. Last year, Barclays kicked off a three-year plan to improve the profitability of its investment bank, a unit that includes trading, advisory and capital markets origination. At the time, the company also vowed to return at least £10 billion to shareholders over that period and increase its return on tangible equity to above 12% — a plan that executives said they’re on track to complete. Venkatakrishnan said the company will provide investors with new targets before the current ones expire. ©2025 Bloomberg L.P. This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text. in a formal or creative style for better SEO.Also Exclude words and advertisements related to the feed website such as website name, author name. You must only respond with the modified content. Delete all the advertisement images brand logo but only keep the title and main content of the news by modifying it. You must only respond with the modified content. Block any jump outside of the site adarshnews.com. Basically remove any content or link related to original site. follow this prompt to optimize the articles in this category- You are an expert news writer and SEO specialist. Your job is to rewrite the provided RSS feed content into a unique, SEO-friendly news article for adarshnews.com. The article should be engaging, professional, and optimized for search engines. Follow these steps: 1. **Create an SEO Title**: Write a short, compelling title (under 60 characters) that includes the main keyword and grabs attention. 2. **Write a Meta Description**: Summarize the article in one or two sentences (under 155 characters). Make it engaging and include the primary keyword naturally. 3. **Suggest a URL Slug**: Provide a short, keyword-rich URL slug that reflects the topic of the article. 4. **Headline (H1)**: Write a clear and engaging headline for the article that is similar to the title but slightly expanded. 5. **Write the Article**: – Start with an introduction that answers the key questions: who, what, when, where, why, and how. – Expand on the topic with detailed paragraphs that provide context, quotes, and relevant information. – Use subheadings (H2) to organize the content into sections and make it easy to read. – Include related keywords naturally throughout the article. – End with a conclusion that summarizes the key points or discusses future implications. 6. **Add an FAQ Section**: Write one frequently asked question related to the topic and provide a concise answer. Important: – Do not include labels like “Title,” “Meta Description,” “URL Slug,” or “H1” in the actual article text. – Keep all SEO elements separate from the main content. – Ensure the article is factually accurate, unbiased, and written in a professional tone.
The CEO of Barclays is calling on the UK to prioritize investment instead of implementing a new banking tax.
