LONDON, Oct 23 — Barclays said today that it rebounded into profit in the third quarter after a vast mis-selling charge a year earlier, but cautioned over the outlook due to coronavirus and Brexit.
Profit after taxation hit £611 million (RM3.32 billion) in the three months to the end of September, Barclays said in a statement.
That contrasted with a net loss of £292 million in the third 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 per cent 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. — AFP
