A sign hangs above an entrance to a branch of Barclays Plc bank in the City of London, U.K.on Friday reported first-quarter net profit of £1.7 billion , helped by a fall in loan impairment charges.
The British bank said these charges had fallen "significantly" in the first three months of the year to under £100 million — down from £2.1 billion in the first quarter of 2020.Analysts had expected net income to come in at £1.3 billion for the first three months of the year, according to Refinitiv. The British bankRevenues hit £5.9 billion, down from £6.3 billion a year ago.CET 1 ratio, a measure of bank solvency, came in at 14.6%, a fall from 15.
"While momentum in the consumer businesses, particularly card balances, will take time to build, Barclays secured significant new growth opportunities in Q1 ," Jes Staley, CEO of Barclays said in a statement. "While evidence of recovery is encouraging, we have continued to take a cautious view of the impact of the pandemic on the business. We remain disciplined on costs, with a cost to income ratio of 61% this quarter," he added.This is a developing news story and will be updated shortly.