Barclays getting business back on track

Barclays saw half-year profits knocked by a third following a major US settlement and mis-selling provisions, but cheered a turnaround in the final months after dodging further charges.

The high street lender reported a 29 per cent fall in pre-tax profit to £1.7 billion for the six months to 30 June, while total income for the period was flat at £10.9bn.

Profits were knocked by a £400 million PPI charge and a £1.4bn settlement with US authorities over its sale of mortgage-backed securities in the lead-up to the financial crisis – both of which were logged in the first quarter.

When stripped of litigation and conduct costs, half-year pre-tax profits rose 20 per cent to £3.7bn.

The bank cheered its secondquarter performance, during which it logged no major legal costs or further PPI provisions.

Chief executive Jes Staley said: “It was the first quarter for some time with no significant litigation or conduct charges, restructuring costs, or other exceptional expenses which hit our profitability.

“In effect then, it is the first clear sight of the statutory performance of the business which we have re-engineered over the past two-and-a-half years – Barclays’ transatlantic consumerandwholesalebank – and it is a positive sight.”

Statutory pre-tax profits for the second quarter came in at £1.9bn, up from just £659m during the same period last year. Staley said the first-half performance overall showed the bank was starting to “demonstrate its true potential and value”. 0 Jes Staley: showing its ‘true potential and value’