Barclays Bank has reported record profits of $14 billion for 2006.
The figures represent a 35 per cent improvement on last year and come despite bad debt charges totalling $4 billion from the bank’s Barclaycard and unsecured loans businesses.
An area that showed particular improvement was Barclays Capital whose investment banking department rose by 55 per cent to $4 billion.
Barclays Global Investors also saw profits rise by 32 per cent to $1.4 billion.
“It was a pretty strong operating performance taken as a whole – the UK banking numbers were good and the rise of the Barclays Capital and BGI empire continues,” says financial analyst Antony Broadbent.