Barrons: 19/11/07

http://online.barrons.com/article/SB119525655251896301.html?mod=googlenews_barrons

Extracts:

There are a few areas that could still see hits. One is the bank's £10 billion exposure to the commercial-mortgage-backed-securities market, about 40% of which is in the U.S. Barclays hasn't yet taken any write-offs in this area, and there is anecdotal evidence the commercial-property market is weakening. A lot of the bank's commercial-mortgage-backed portfolio dates to 2005 and 2006, and even earlier. So write-downs, if any, may be lower than those of participants who got into the market this year.
In the leveraged-finance arena, Barclays has £7.3 billion of unsold underwriting positions. Unlike its U.S. peers, BarCap doesn't mark to market these loans but uses its own analysis. It has written down £190 million so far.
One worry will be the slowdown in revenue from credit products, which were responsible for nearly £1.2 billion in the first six months of this year. But BarCap's target of 15% to 20% revenue growth in the medium term means that it is bullish on other businesses like rates, foreign exchange, equities, commodities and currencies. One key will be the extent to which it relies on its relationships in China, since China Development Bank is an investor in Barclays.
The bank is due to come out with its detailed trading statement later this year. As long as its capital-adequacy ratios remain intact, Barclays may be up for a re-rating.