Trading woe at Barclays

BARCLAYS faces more pressure to boost its investment bank as it gears up for a showdown with corporate raider Edward Bramson.

Profits at the investment banking arm fell 30pc to £827m in the first three months of the year amid a flagging global economy and uncertainty ahead of Brexit.

Boss Jes Staley is battling to improve performance in the division as he fights off Bramson, who has said it wastes money and should be hacked back.

Bramson is asking investors to vote him on to Barclays’ board as a non- executive director at its annual meeting next week. Investment banking has suffered across the world, with Barclays’ rivals hit by an international slowdown after the US cracked down on trade.

Analysts had been expecting Barclays’ investment bank to suffer as a result so the figures were not surprising.

Revenue from on its trading floor fell by 6.2pc, better than the performance from Wall Street competitors who saw them drop 14pc on average.

Nicholas Hyett, of trading firm Hargreaves Lansdown, said: ‘A poor result from the investment bank isn’t a great surprise, international rivals have flagged pretty tough conditions across the market and Barclays is keen to point to a growing share of global banking fees. But the numbers will do little to take the pressure from activist Edward Bramson off the board.’

Overall, Barclays made a £1.5bn profit in the quarter. It had lost £236m a year earlier, largely due to fines for selling toxic mortgages during the financial crisis. Shares fell 3.6pc, or 5.98p, to 160.4p.