Barclays bank rebounds into quarterly net profit

Barclays said on Friday, October 23, that it rebounded into profit in the 3rd quarter after a vast mis-selling charge a year earlier, but cautioned over the outlook due to the coronavirus and Brexit.

Profit after taxation hit £611 million ($801 million, 677 million euros) in the 3 months to the end of September, Barclays said in a statement.

That contrasted with a net loss of £292 million in the 3rd quarter of 2019, when it had taken a massive charge of £1.4 billion to compensate customers who had been mis-sold payment protection insurance (PPI) over a number of years.

Pre-tax profit soared to £1.1 billion from just £200 million a year earlier, while group income dipped 6% to £5.2 billion.

The lender also booked £608 million of impairment charges for the reporting period.

Barclays added that the “outlook remains uncertain and subject to change depending on the evolution and persistence of the COVID-19 pandemic and the outcome of Brexit negotiations.”

And the company warned that it was also mulling further cost-cutting.

“The group will be evaluating actions to reduce structural costs, which could result in additional charges, the timing and size of which remain to be determined,” it said. – Rappler.com