China Development Bank and Barclays will team up in a wide-ranging deal under which the British lender will offer services to the Chinese bank around the world. Stock and bond sales, foreign-exchange trading, day-to-day commercial banking and staff training are among the areas covered by the agreement – as is helping CDB buy overseas assets. Barclays is strong in Europe, the U.S. and most significantly in Africa, where Chinese state-backed companies have been ramping up as part of government-backed push to secure resources, particularly energy and minerals. CDB began more than two decades ago as one of three ‘policy lenders’ that provided funds to state companies whose actions were aligned with government policy. With Barclays as a partner, CDB’s overseas reach comes full circle. Its first international move away from lending to state-owned firms came with its 2007 acquisition of a 3.1% stake in Barclays, to finance the U.K. bank’s ultimately unsuccessful bid for ABN Amro Holding. That stake has been diluted over the years and is now just over 1%.
