3 financial stocks to buy amid demand of easing staff visa rules

Highlights

• A short-term hybrid business visa would enable overseas staff to work in the UK without the need to fulfil the mandatory requirements of a full-work visa.
• Overseas staff would help guide innovation in green finance, fintech and help build global trading networks.
• Barclays, Legal & General Group and Banco Santander are the three stocks in review

The financial services sector in the UK has requested the government to ease requirements for a visa for overseas staff who desire to work for up to six months in the country. The TheCityUK’s Global Talent Mobility report illustrated some of the challenges confronting financial service institutes and insurers related in the hiring of talent.

A short-term hybrid business visa would enable overseas staff to work in the UK without the need to fulfil the mandatory requirements of a full-work visa. The UK's finance ministry announced the introduction of "fast-track" visas for skilled workforce in the fintech sector and is also reviewing regulations pertaining to intra-company staffing transfers.

The easing of visa rules would enable companies to easily hire overseas staff and drive innovation in green finance, fintech and help build global trading networks. The introduction of new immigration rules in January is expected to significantly increase the cost of securing the high-skilled talent for financial and related services companies.

(Data source: Company release and EODHD/Others)

Here is a detailed review of the investment potential in 3 financial services stocks - Barclays, Legal & General Group and Banco Santander.

Barclays Plc (LON: BARC)

Barclays is a provider of corporate, personal, and investment banking services, wealth management, and credit cards. Recently, Barclays and Anthemis launched their Female Innovators Lab in Europe and the UK, which intends to provide funds and mentoring to fintech startups established by women entrepreneurs. In August, Barclays inked an agreement with Synchrony Bank to acquire The Gap private label credit card accounts and receivables. The acquisition is expected to be completed in Q2 2022.  

Currently, Barclays’ shares are trading at GBX 190.86, up by 1.64% at 10:03 AM GMT+1 on Thursday 30 September 2021. The company’s market capitalisation is £31,643.31 million. In the last one year, the shares of Barclays returned 96.29% to shareholders.

Barclays recorded an income of £11.3 billion in H1 2021, down by 3% year-on-year. Its return on tangible equity (RoTE) was 16.4% for H1 2021. Its profit before tax was £5.0 billion in H1 2021 compared to £1.3 billion in H1 2020.

For H1 2021 ended 30 June 2021, Barclays announced an interim dividend of 2.0 pence per share.

Legal & General Group Plc (LON: LGEN)

Legal & General is a UK-based provider of financial services such as pensions, life insurance, investment and retirement services. Recently, Legal & General inked a buy-in transaction agreement with the Selecta UK Pension Plan for £250 million.

Currently, Legal & General Group’s shares are trading at GBX 282.50, up by 0.64% at 9:40 AM GMT+1 on Thursday 30 September 2021. The company’s market capitalisation is £16,757.77 million. In the last one year, the shares of Legal & General Group returned 52.47% to shareholders.

Legal & General’s operating profit of £1,079 million represented an increase of 14% year-on-year in H1 2021 compared to £946 million in H1 2020. It recorded a return on equity of 22.0% in H1 2021 compared to 6.3% in H1 2020.

Legal & General announced 5.18 pence per share interim dividend for H1 2021, an increase of 5% from 4.93 pence per share in H1 2020.

Banco Santander S.A. (LON:BNC)

Banco Santander offers commercial and retail banking products and services to small- and medium-sized businesses, large firms and individuals. It had announced the closing of its payment fintech and international transfer service – PagoFX.

In September, Santander Consumer USA inked an acquisition agreement with Santander Holdings’ to acquire all shares for $2.5 billion. Banco Santander’s PagoNxt took over 70% stake in its Mercadotecnia, Ideas y Tecnología to expand its merchant payments business under the Getnet brand.

Currently, Banco Santander’s shares are trading at GBX 273.15, up by 0.78% at 10:29 AM GMT+1 on Thursday 30 September 2021. The company’s market capitalisation is £47,374.63 million. In the last one year, the shares of Banco Santander returned 90.87% to shareholders.

Banco Santander recorded revenue of €22.7 billion in H1 2021, representing an increase of 8% year-on-year. The company’s profit before tax rose by 123% year-on-year to €7,628 million in H1 2021.

For H1 2021, Banco approved an interim cash dividend of EUR 4.85 cents per share, payable on 2 November 2021.