Look at the profits not Jenkins’ rhetoric
ANTONY Jenkins says Barclays’ latest results show the benefits of its diversity as a group. But that’s what you’d expect a chief executive to say who was brought in to buff up the bank’s post-Libor reputation.
The investment bank remains Barclays’ single biggest source of profits: 57 per cent of the group’s profit before tax in the nine months to 30 September. Barclaycard is a distant second at 24 per cent.
But there’s no room for complacency. Profit before tax for the investment bank fell 53 per cent in 2013’s third quarter compared with the same quarter last year.
The group’s overall profit before tax in the last quarter was less bad than expected. But Jenkins can’t afford to neglect the source of most of Barclays’ profits.