'Real Rebound' in World Economy: Barclays' CEO
Special to CNBC.com
Once again the world economy has proved the naysayers wrong and there's been a "real rebound" so far this year, Barclays CEO Robert Diamond told CNBC Wednesday.
"One of the lessons we’ve learned in the last couple of years is every time it’s doom and gloom ... the economy is far more resilient," he said. "We see China at 8 percent to 9 percent growth, and reduction in unemploymentin the U.S. So we’ve seen a real rebound."
That even extends to Europe, which was stabilized by the European Central Bank's second liquidity injection. President Mario Draghi "has made an impact," Diamond said. "Many of us underestimated the impact" of the long-term refining operations, or LTRO.
In addition, the feared economic collapse of Germany did not happen, he said, and the governments in Portugal, Ireland and Italy are more focused on austerity.
"Virtually every piece of data we've seen has been better than expected," Diamond said.
Diamond said Barclays has seen an increase in investment inflows from client pension funds and corporations, and has the capital to meet new worldwide requirements.
"We're done resizing," he said. "It was important to be done in response to Basel 3" requirements. Diamond told CNBC in August that Barclays has more cash on its balance sheet than it had before the 2008 financial crisis, and he repeated that on Wednesday.
