Bald Eagle makes smooth landing

Another gamble has paid off for Barclays. In barely more than six months, the UK bank has turned down a state insurance scheme for its assets, rejected government capital in favour of pricey Middle East funds and challenged alienated shareholders to purge the entire board. A «back us or sack us» investor vote on April 23 went in the bank’s favour. The independent Barclays is still standing. At one point, it looked like the bank had enough travails to spawn a «kick the rascals out» movement. B...