Barclays profit gets boost from investment banking

Barclays reported better than expected Q3 profits on Thursday, following its Wall Street rivals in receiving a strong push from investment banking.

The British bank reported Q3 profit of £1.45 billion vs expected £931.25 million. The figure marks a significant increase from the £611 million reported for Q3 last year.

“For many years, we were being asked the question of ‘how does Barclays get to its target return on capital of 10% or better?’ and I think 2021 will be a pretty strong answer to that question” Barclays CEO Jes Staley said.

Income from investment banking fees increased 37% to £2.7 billion, driven by a strong performance in Advisory and Equity capital markets to signal a surge of the fee pool and an increased market share.
Group income hit £5.5 billion, up from £5.2 billion for the same period last year. Return on tangible equity was 14.9%, compared to 3.6% in the third quarter of 2020.