New boss claims Barclays in good shape

on 31/10/2012 08:05:25

New Barclays boss Antony Jenkins insisted the bank was in good shape today despite a torrent of reputation-scarring scandals and a £47 million quarterly loss.

Delivering his first set of results since taking over from Bob Diamond in the wake of the Libor-fixing affair, Mr Jenkins said the lender had "much to do to restore trust among stakeholders" but remained "strong and well-positioned".

Barclays reported a statutory loss of £47 million in the three months to September, compared with a £2.4 billion profit in the same quarter last year.

The loss was driven by a £700 million hit to cover mis-sold PPI claims and a one-off £1 billion charge against the value of the bank's own credit.

But stripping out the impact of the PPI charge, the bank reported underlying pre-tax profits for the third quarter of £1.7 billion, compared with £1.3 billion last year.

The investment bank - the powerhouse built by Mr Diamond - more than doubled its third quarter underlying pre-tax profits to £937 million, while UK retail banking slipped 19% year-on-year to £400 million in the same period.