Yahoo Finance Barclays profits slip as fines take their toll
Barclays has insisted it is on track to generate bigger profits, despite Brexit concerns weighing “heavily” on the market and hefty misconduct charges taken early in the year denting earnings.
Over the nine months to September the banking giant's pre-tax profits fell 9.5pc to £3.1bn, down from £3.5bn the previous year.
Barclays blamed a £1.4bn settlement with the US Department of Justice in March over past mis-selling of toxic mortgage products and a £400m additional charge for payment protection insurance claims in the first quarter.
Without these one-off costs pre-tax profits for the period were up 23pc to £5.3bn, with underlying profits increasing at both its UK division and international arm, which includes its highly scrutinised investment bank.
For the third quarter of the year, pre-tax profits were £1.5bn, compared with £1.9bn in the previous quarter.
Barclays is under intense pressure to increase returns to shareholders with activist investor Ed Bramson pressing for a shake-up behind the scenes, having taken a more than 5pc stake in the bank.
Barclays chief executive Jes Staley said the firm was on target to reach its underlying profitability targets, which include pushing return on tangible equity to greater than 9pc next year and 10pc in 2020. It was above this for the year to date at 11.1pc.
He said 2018 was “proving to be a year of delivery on strategy at Barclays”, but warned concerns over Brexit “weigh heavily on market sentiment”.
