LONDON – British bank Barclays today announced a 38% slump in net profit for 2020 and said expenses related to the coronavirus pandemic were set to stay high this year.
Profit after tax fell to £1.53 billion (RM8.6 billion), Barclays said in a statement.
Group credit impairment charges shot up to £4.8 billion (RM26.97 billion) from £1.9 billion (RM10.68) owing “to the deterioration in the economic outlook driven by the Covid-19 pandemic”.
Despite the tough year, “Barclays remains well capitalised, well provisioned for impairments... with a strong balance sheet, and competitive market positions across the group”, chief executive Jes Staley said in the statement.
“We expect that our resilient and diversified business model will deliver a meaningful improvement in returns in 2021,” he added.
As well as offering a dividend to shareholders, Barclays said it would buy back shares at a cost of up to £700 million (RM3.934 billion). – AFP, February 18, 2021
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