Barclays review: as it happened 1359 Barclays shares have hit a near-two year high after rising more than 7pc in trading so far today. The current share price, at around 324.6p, is the highest since February 18 2011. Barclays' share price movements since February 18 2011 Source: Bloomberg 1325 Reuters commentators George Hay and Dominic Elliott question how realistic Mr Jenkins' targets are. They write that Mr Jenkins' projections "ignore the challenges facing Barclays' capital strength," given the bank's capital ratio - a comparison between its core equity capital and total risk-weighted assets - at 8.2pc is relatively low and falls short of the industry standard of 10pc. They also point out that increasing dividend payments will not sit easily with proposals for banks to ring-fence their investment banking arms. But the biggest swing factor for a re-rating [of its share price] may not be capital, but whether investors, and Diamond's massed ranks of investment bankers, buy in to Jenkins' cultural revolution. The latter appear sceptical, even contemptuous, of signing up to woolly-sounding commitments to be ethical and socially useful. 1306 Markets have reacted well to Barclays' full-year results and strategic review- shares have lifted 6.52pc since trade opened this morning, bringing the price to 321.15p. Source: Bloomberg 1237 Barclays has launched a new section of its website dedicated to explaining the plans for change at Barclays. You can take a look here. 1225 The Financial Times' Lex column argues that Mr Jenkins' changes are not as sweeping as they first appear, as - first of all - "it is not a given" that the bank can generate revenues of £30.5bn in 2015, and secondly, that the focus on UK, US and Africa at the expense of Europe and Asia was already part of Bob Diamond's legacy. It concludes: The Barclays of tomorrow promises to indulge its shareholders a bit more and its staff a bit less. But it will not be a radically different investment proposition to the Barclays of today. 1209 Investec's Ian Gordon looks at Barclays' full year-results and questions whether Mr Jenkins' really plans on throwing out Bob Diamond's legacy of a muscular investment bank. Adjusted profit before tax £7,048m - 2pc below consensus, with lumpy central items and an ABS CDO impairment. Barcap (Barclays Capital) contributed £4.1bn (58pc of group), up 37pc year-on-year with revenues up 13pc and costs down 1pc. As such, looking through management jargon, it is surely little wonder that Bob's successor, Antony Jenkins, rightly plans to secure, and build upon the improving shareholder economics of Barcap. Shredding? Don't make me laugh! 1159 You can watch Mr Jenkins explain his rationale for sweeping changes at the bank here: 1153 The Economist's Jason Karaian asks whether Mr Jenkins' rhetoric will ring hollow in retrospect. The market's initial reaction to Barclays' restructuring plan is positive, but preserving this momentum will be a challenge. Banks have a tendency to over-promise and under-deliver when it comes to making big changes. Updates on the bank's progress in the coming quarters will therefore be crucial to Barclays boosting its valuation. Among its domestic peers, only RBS trades at a bigger discount to its book value. Barclays is also some way from attracting similar valuations to global universal banks like JPMorgan. Beset by scandal and struggling with moribund economic growth in many of its key markets, Barclays has a lot of ground to make up in the coming years. Investors will ask themselves whether the promise of a re-rating of Barclays' shares is worth the risk. In a sign of these straitened times for banks, Barclays is merely promising to generate returns above its cost of equity three years from now. In any other industry, a similar commitment would be seen as a striking lack of ambition. Head of Barclays' investment arm Rich Ricci was once tipped to replace Bob Diamond as the group chief executive 1139 Head of Barclays investment bank Rich Ricci's future at Barclays would seem far from certain: 1127 More now from Mr Jenkins' speech. He has reiterated finance director Chris Lucas' sentiment that chances of success for class action lawsuits around Libor are "quite low." The chief executive has also aired his views on proposals to break up banks' retail and investment arms, saying that while he does not believe there will be pressure to completely break up lenders, that he is "comfortable" with plans to "electrify" the ring-fence (referring to proposals to force bank break up should in the event of non-compliance) 1125 Advocates of a financial transaction tax remain unimpressed by Barclays' sweeping changes - insisting that cultural change stems from government enforcement. David Hillman, spokesman for the Robin Hood Tax campaign, said: We're pleased Barclays is finally taking action to rebuild its tarnished reputation, but this will be an uphill struggle while big bonuses keep on coming. The best way to ensure banks make amends for the damage done during the last financial crisis is by paying their fair share in tax. Bitter experience shows we can't rely on banks to put their own house in order, we need Government action to achieve that. 1120 Mr Jenkins is going into detail on where the axe will fall at Barclays. He has told reporters gathered at his speech in London the bank will close four units and has placed the futures of 17 more under review. The chief executive has also said 30pc of Barclays' continental branches will be closed, and the bank has stopped speculative trading on soft commodities. Mr Jenkins poses ahead of his speech in London today. Credit: Reuters 1112 More on Mr Jenkins' comments regarding the tax avoidance (aka 'structured capital markets') unit. He said the bank "will fulfill existing arranagements for clients" in this business. 1110 The Guardian's Jill Treanor reports that Barclays will not be exiting its tax avoidance activities entirely: 1106 Harry is tweeting from Antony Jenkins' speech, where the chief executive is counting the cost of exiting from its riskier businesses.