Tough times for Barclays but its investment bank is still flying

CEO Jes Staley’s tenure has been marred by personal scandal and Barclays backing for fossil fuel but his decision to face down activist investor Ed Bramson and keep the unit looks better and better, James Moore writes

Barclays Investment Bank was a star of the latest results but bad debts rose sharply (Reuters)

The first big UK bank over the hill with its interim results was Barclays, to which the initial reaction was “ouch”. The most important number was always going to be the impairment charge, which rolled in at £3.7bn over just six months. In the corresponding period BC (before Covid) that number was £0.9bn.

It’s true that the provisions the bank racked up in the first quarter (£2.1bn) were greater than those in the second (£1.6bn).

But the number was still worse than expectations by a couple of hundred million, and that worried the market.