Print this article

Profits Drop At Barclays' Wealth, Investment Arm

Tom Burroughes

30 July 2013

The Wealth and Investment Management segment of UK-listed Barclays said it logged a second-quarter pre-tax, adjusted loss of £13 million , contrasting with a profit of £60 million in the previous quarter and a profit of £49 million a year ago.

In the six months to 30 June, this business unit made an adjusted pre-tax profit of £47 million, contrasting with a £175 million profit figure in the six months to the end of December last year. The fall in profit was “primarily driven by costs to achieve Transform, customer remediation provision and increased credit impairment charges”, the bank said in a statement today.

Net operating in come in the six months to 30 June was £882 million, up slightly from £875 million in the same six months of 2012.

Total client assets stood at £202.8 billion at the end of June; a total of 8,300 employees worked at this segment of the bank at the end of June, unchanged from six months previously.

The UK bank as a whole logged a statutory profit before tax in the six months to 30 June of £1.677 billion, up from £871 million in the same period a year ago. The UK banking group had a core Tier 1 ratio at the end of June of 11.1 per cent.

Leverage plan

In a separate announcement, Barclays announced a “leverage plan”, aiming to raise around £5.8 billion of capital in a rights issue. The move follows the 20 June announcement by the Prudential Regulation Authority – the UK bank regulator – of the results of its review of the capital adequacy of major UK banks and building societies.  The PRA introduced a 3 per cent leverage ratio target. As at 30 June 2013, Barclays’ PRA leverage ratio was 2.2 per cent, representing a gap of £12.8 billion.