Barclays sees forbearance fall £85m

The bank said this is due to continued improvement in mortgage and card portfolios driven by the benign economic environment.

The figures are shown in Barclays Bank UK’s half-year results update for 2017, which show the bank’s profit-before-tax has fallen by around 30 percent so far this year. The bank’s profit-before-tax fell to £2.2bn for the first half of this year, compared to £3bn for the first six months of 2016.

The results state that Barclays Bank UK recorded around £267bn of loans and advances to customers for the first half of this year.

Nearly half of these loans and advances were home loans, at £132bn, and nearly £30bn were advances through cards, unsecured loans and other personal lending.

The remainder of these advances were split between loans to banks, financial institutions, construction and property companies.

As for the entire group, Barclays litigation and conduct costs increased by 42 percent for the first six months of this year, to £743m, compared to £525m for the same period last year. Of this year’s cost, Barclays Bank UK accounted for £695m of the costs.

Barclays’ charges relating to PPI hit £700m for the first half of this year, compared to £400m for the same period last year. The bank said this primarily reflects an increase in higher than expected complaints flow over recent months.

The bank said the PPI costs, along with the costs of setting up the ring-fenced bank and investment in cyber resilience and technology, has meant Barclays Bank UK’s operating expenses increased by 14 percent this year, to £2.6bn, from £2.3bn for the same period last year.

Tushar Morzaria, finance director of Barclays Group, said the three months ending June 30 has seen the bank achieve some of its key strategic plans. This includes part of a restructuring plan which took place in June.