The wealth management firm said its income increased by 18 per cent to £1.560 billion, mainly from growth in its high net worth businesses and higher attributable net interest income from the revised internal funds pricing mechanism.

Impairment charges fell slightly to £48 million , Barclays Wealth said in a statement today. Operating expenses increased by 19 per cent to £1.349 billion , principally due to the start of Barclays Wealth's strategic investment programme which accounted for £112 million of additional costs, as well as the impact of growth in HNW business revenues on staff and infrastructure costs. The firm’s cost-income ratio increased slightly to 86 per cent at the end of last year from 85 per cent in 2009.

Barclays’s chief executive, Robert Diamond, said Barclays Wealth’s programme of business growth, called its “Gamma” plan, is now one year into delivery.

Among other details, Barclays Wealth had total client assets of £163.9 billion at the end of last year, up from £151.2 billion a year before.

For the UK-listed banking group as a whole, it recorded a pre-tax profit of £6.065 billion in 2010, a 32 per cent rise from 2009. Excluding movements on items such as gains on debt buy-backs and gains on acquisitions and disposals, group profit before tax increased by 11 per cent to £5.464 billion.

At the end of last year, the banking group had a Basel Core Tier 1 ratio of 10.8 per cent, up slightly from 12 months earlier.

Barclays said it will pay a final cash dividend for 2010 of 2.5p per share on 18 March, giving an aggregate declared dividend for 2010 of 5.5p per share.

Turning to the sensitive issue of banker compensation, Barclays said the amount of discretionary compensation awards that are deferred has increased further; the proportion of equity in the deferral structures has increased; and it has developed a new structure for a deferred compensation scheme for its most senior employees that links future payouts under the scheme to the group's core capital position at the time.

In total, its performance awards were down 7 per cent on 2009.

Barclays has introduced a contingent capital plan as a part of deferred compensation arrangements for all senior staff. Under its terms, payment of awards is deferred over three years and is only made if the bank's core Tier 1 capital position at the point of vesting is at least 7 per cent, which is the new Basel III regulatory minimum.

Barclays has also expanded significantly the number of staff subject to 60 per cent deferral of 2010 performance award beyond those required by the UK financial regulator, it added.