Barclays AGM disrupted by Spice Girl-themed climate protests; oil and gas prices slide – as it happened

Markets are now nervously waiting the Federal Reserve’s announcment on US interest rates, in four hours time.

Our US Politics Live blog will have all the action, along with developments on the US debt ceiling, as fears of an unprecedented default rise.

Here are today’s main stories:

The UK financial regulator has contacted clients of Capita, the outsourcer which suffered a cyber attack in March, urging companies including insurers and pension funds to determine customer data losses from the data breach, the Financial Times reports.

The involvement of the Financial Conduct Authority comes amid growing concerns over what the hackers may have accessed.

Over the weekend, The Pensions Regulator confirmed it had written to the hundreds of pension funds that employ Capita to help administer their payment systems, urging them to “determine whether there is a risk to their scheme’s data”.

The FCA told the Financial Times:

“We have continued to engage with Capita since their cyber incident was reported to understand the extent of any data compromise and impact on the firms they provide outsource services to including their underlying customers.”

In New York, the stock market has opened a little higher after falling on Tuesday.

With investors awaiting the Federal Reserve interest rate decision at 2pm EDT (7pm BST), the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose by 42 points, or 0.13%, at the open to 33,726.64.

The broader S&P 500 index opened 2.67 points higher at 4,122.25, while the tech-focused Nasdaq Composite gained 0.14%.

While Barclays AGM was taking place, US payroll operator ADP was reporting a rise in private sector employment across America last month.

ADP reported that US private payrolls rose by 296,000 for April, more than double the downwardly revised 142,000 the previous month, and well ahead of the estimate for 133,000.

The fastest job growth in April came in leisure and hospitality with a gain of 154,000, followed by education and health services (69,000) and construction (53,000).

But there were 28,000 job losses in the financial sector, while manufacturing cut 38,000 workers.

This may be an indication that the official US jobs report for April, due on Friday, will be stronger than forecast.

The Non-Farm Payroll is expected to show that the US added 179,000 new jobs, down from 236,000 in March.

Climate activists also channeled The Bard, as well as the Spice Girls, at Barclays AGM today.

Extinction Rebellion explain:

At 11am teams of activists infiltrated the AGM of Europe’s biggest funder of fossil fuels, Barclays.

A 70-strong Climate Choir sang a climate crisis version of the Spice Girls “Stop Right Now” to bank board members. Further disruption followed as other shareholders from Fossil Free London, with a Shakespearean condemnation of Barclays as being on the wrong side of history.

Pulling out hidden ruffs and quills, they performed Shakespeare-based lines generated by ChatGPT about the bank’s funding of fossil fuels. Lines included: “The people thee harm, and our air thou pollute! And yet, there is more, I tell you this day, For Barclays is guilty in a vile way. Thou art on the wrong side of history, I say!”

3 May 202308.55 EDT

Kalyeena Makortoff

A representative of climate campaigners ShareAction asked what it promised was the last question from the group, saying she was asking it jointly with a group of 12 institutional investors including the Merseyside Pension Fund and the Barrow Cadbury Trust.

They are pushing for a “comprehensive update” on Barclays’ policy on climate transition plans for clients.

Nigel Higgins has said the work is ongoing, and that they’ve taken around 150 clients through the process already, a number which they hope will rise to 750 over the next 12 or so months.

The Barclays chairman said:

“We will be saying more about how we’re doing that. We’re not going to tell you exactly what we’ll be saying, we’ll do that later…And we’re happy to continue to engage with ShareAction on that.

And that brings an end to an eventful AGM.

During today’s AGM, Barclays chief executive CS “Venkat” Venkatakrishnan said the banking giant has been “insulated” from the recent volatility in the global banking sector.

Venkat told shareholders that the “global turmoil”, such as the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Credit Suisse, had created “a challenging operating environment”.

But, he added:

“Nonetheless, the events that unfolded serve to reaffirm the critical role that Barclays plays in helping our customers and our clients manage uncertainty.”

He added that the group has strong risk management, robust liquidity and has a prudent approach to lending.

“And these have insulated Barclays from the volatility which we have seen in markets, and have enabled us to continue to support our customers and clients through an uncertain period.”

3 May 202308.23 EDT

Kalyeena Makortoff

Nigel Higgins has said that it is Barclays ambition “to be one, if not the leading transition-financing banks” but one proxy shareholder has challenged the Barclays chairman, saying “it seems you’re not leading, it seems you’re lagging”.

They’ve also warned the chairman and Barclays investors that the bank is going to lose customers quickly unless it changes its climate strategy:

“I suspect you will probably need to make it more and more difficult for the public to access these AGMs, but that will not stop people being unhappy with Barclays.

Every parent who is concerned about their children’s future is starting to consider where they want to spend their finances, and every person who you’ve heard raise a concern is trying to tell everybody else they know to leave Barclays, go to other banks that have much better records on sustainability, and that are that have much better options.

“Nobody has to stick with Barclays and I think people are realising that more and more so I’d just like you to be aware - and I’d like all investors to be aware - that if Barclays continues to be the worst fossil fuel funder in the UK, it’s going to lose a lot.”

3 May 202307.29 EDT

Kalyeena Makortoff

A shareholder and activist has accused the Barclays chairman of showing of “arrogance and hubris” and not taking campaigners’ concerns seriously, as he again tried to list the bank’s climate commitments.

The activist said:

“It’s like a parallel universe, with the greatest love and respect to all of you and your families, this isn’t real.

What’s real is record-breaking temperatures, in the world’s oceans, crops failing around the world, and a third of humanity is in record-breaking heat in 12 countries in Asia. That’s real.

I don’t know if you feel that your privilege is going to protect you, but it isn’t.

3 May 202307.22 EDT

Barclays chairman: We can't abandon energy sector

Kalyeena Makortoff

Barclays chairman Nigel Higgins has tried to outline the bank’s own climate commitments, but was disrupted as another protester shouted “bullshit.”

Higgins said the bank had “significantly enhanced” its climate disclosures, and listened to shareholder feedback after nearly 20% voted against a climate strategy, which campaigners said was too weak and contained a number of loopholes, at last year’s AGM.

The chairman said Barclays had committed to ending thermal coal financing in the OECD and EU countries by 2023, and had “substantially exited” the carbon-heavy oil sands sector, while increasing its financing for green energy.

However, Higgins said Barclays would not abandon the fossil fuel sector entirely:

“It is our view – and I know that not everybody agrees -that the state of energy provision today, and the questions of energy poverty and energy security, mean that we cannot simply abandon this sector”.

More from the AGM: