Profits up at Barclays as bank cuts expenses by £800m

Barclays PLC boosted profitability in 2017 despite a slight decrease in revenues.

The London-headquartered banking group recorded a pre-tax profit of £3.54bn for the 12 months to December 31, a year-on-year increase of 10%.

Total income for the period dipped slightly, falling from £21.45bn in 2016 to £21.07bn last year, a decrease of just over 2.1%.

Barclays managed to slash its overall operating expenses in 2017 by about £800m. The figure for the year stood at £15.46bn.

Discussing the results, group CEO James E Staley said the period marked “a year of considerable strategic progress” for the bank.

In a statement released this morning (February 22), he said: “The sell down of our shareholding in Barclays Africa, closure of our non-core unit, the establishment of our service company, and the creation of our UK ring-fenced bank, mean that, in terms of size and structure, we are now the diversified transatlantic consumer and wholesale bank we set out in our strategy in March 2016.

“We have a portfolio of profitable businesses, producing significant earnings, and have plans and investments in place to grow those earnings over time.”

He added: “We have already started to see some of the benefits of our work in 2017.”

Speaking further, Mr Staley said Barclays UK “navigated the year well” and reached a digital banking milestone when it welcomed its 10 millionth customer.

He continued: “Although we are only seven weeks into the first quarter, and it is too early to offer formal guidance, we are pleased with the start to the year.”