Credited & discredited

Big profit for most moaned about bank

BARCLAYS has revealed profits of £216 a second – days after being ranked Britain’s most complained about bank. Its profits more than doubled to nearly £1.7billion in the first three months of this year. The haul emerged as City watchdog the Financial Conduct Authority named and shamed Barclays over complaints. Barclays topped the list of financial firms, with 438,200 gripes in the second half of last year. The profit surge was driven in part by getting shot of parts of the bank it doesn’t want. It came as Barclays boss Jes Staley launched a new bid to cling on to his job in the wake of a whistle-blowing scandal. Staley is being investigated by regulators after it emerged he tried to unmask the sender of two letters who made claims about a senior Barclays executive. “I made a mistake,” he said yesterday. “I was trying to protect a vulnerable colleague, but I should have left the organisation to handle it.” Investors have been urged to abstain from a vote backing his re-election at the bank’s annual general meeting on May 10. Asked whether he had offered to resign, Staley said: “The answer is no and, as the board said, they unanimously supported me continuing as CEO of the bank.” Barclays’ share price suffered its biggest slump since the aftermath of last June’s Brexit vote, tumbling nearly 5%, making it the biggest faller on the FTSE yesterday. Despite the group rise in profits, they dropped at its investment bank.

SCANDAL Staley