Barclays Sets Aside £1bn More For Mistakes

Barclays (LSE: BARC.L - news) has announced a 25% rise in half-year profits to £3.1bn just weeks after sacking its chief executive Antony Jenkins.

The six-month performance was overshadowed by confirmation of further charges to cover the cost of legacy issues, which the bank said it was still working hard to address.

Barclays said £250m was put aside for customer redress on packaged bank accounts, which consumer groups have alleged may have been mis-sold by the financial services industry.

These are accounts which charge a monthly fee and may, in many cases, have also included insurance products.

Barclays said it had also added £750m to its provisions for the payment protection insurance (PPI) scandal, taking its total bill to date to £6bn.

It had previously announced £150m of that sum in its results for the first quarter of its financial year.

Barclays said its strategy had made progress in the six months to 30 June.

John McFarlane, who became executive chairman following the dismissal of Mr Jenkins earlier this month , confirmed a planned shift in the bank's direction to concentrate on driving value for investors.

He said the lender needed to "accelerate growth in earnings", slash its ratio of costs to income, instill a "high performance ethic" and "streamline and eliminate unnecessary and cumbersome bureaucracy".

"There is a lot we can do to accelerate our progress and the work has already begun," said Mr McFarlane, who faced questions when he took over on whether he aimed to take the bank back to the days where its investment operation dominated.

Reports have since suggested that Barclays may aim to axe up to 30,000 jobs.

Mr McFarlane only said the bank would "act quickly to curtail activity which is marginal or which will not deliver the return on equity we require".