Annual profits more than doubled at Britain’s Barclays Bank, boosted by economic recovery and the release of provisions for bad loans during the Covid pandemic.
The bank on Wednesday reported a record annual pre-tax profit of £8.4bn, up from £3.1bn in 2020. It released £653m set aside for loan defaults compared with a charge of £4.8bn the year before. The net release included a reversal of £1.3bn in non-default charges, primarily reflecting the improved macroeconomic outlook.
It also unveiled a £1bn share buyback, lifted the full-year dividend to 4p a share and announced that deputy financial officer Anna Cross would step up to replace Tushar Morzaria who retires in April.
The results are the first since CS Venkatakrishnan took over as chief executive after the unexpected departure of Jes Staley last November over issues related to his ties with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Barclays said its diversified income streams placed it in a good position to capitalise on the ongoing economic recovery and rising interest rates. The impairment charge is expected to remain below pre-pandemic levels in coming quarters given reduced unsecured lending balances and an improved macroeconomic outlook.
However, it cautioned that inflationary pressures and planned investment spend are expected to result in a 2022 costs being “modestly higher” than £12.0bn.
