Barclays trebles profits and boosts capital

Barclays nearly trebled its profits to £3.23 billion last year, as the bank said progress on shedding unwanted assets meant it would complete its overhaul six months ahead of schedule on 30 June.

The City also cheered a surprise rise in the bank’s core capital ratio – the cushion that backs its loans – to 12.4 per cent at end-2016, compared with forecasts of 11.8 per cent. The profit the year before was £1.1bn.

Barclays chief executive Jes Staley said: “It has taken off the table a question we got quite often last year, will you need to raise capital? That should lay that question to rest.”

Staley, who joined Barclays 15 months ago, has been offloading businesses to focus on the US and UK. This has included operations in France and Egypt, and he has moved to sell off the bank’s 62 per cent in Barclays Africa.

Staley repeated that the group had no plans to move staff to Europe as a result of Brexit and said it would be able to use its bases in Germany and Ireland as subsidiaries oncetheukpullsoutoftheeu. Barclays’ investment bank was a standout performer in the latest results, with profits rising 14 per cent to £2.65bn. The UK retail bank was helped by sharply lower charges for misselling payment protection insurance (PPI), with profits lifting to £1.74bn last year from £1.15bn in 2015.

In its annual report published alongside the results, the bank revealed Staley was awarded a £4.23 million pay package for 2016.

The bank’s total bonus pool edged down to £1.53bn from £1.54bn in 2015. 0 Jes Staley heads UK banking giant Barclays