Barclays full-year web revenue quadruples as company and funding financial institution booms

LONDON — Barclays on Wednesday reported a full-year web revenue of £6.38 billion ($8.67 billion) for 2021, forward of analyst expectations of £5.75 billion, as its company and funding banking division boomed.

Fourth-quarter web earnings attributable to shareholders got here in at £1.12 billion, outstripping a imply forecast of £756.5 million, based on Refinitiv knowledge.

The figures marked a big enchancment from the £1.53 billion web revenue reported in 2020 and £220 million within the fourth-quarter of that yr, because the U.Ok. navigated recent nationwide Covid-19 lockdowns.

The British lender endured a turbulent remaining quarter of 2021, with longtime CEO Jes Staley resigning in November following an investigation by regulators into his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. He was changed by C.S. Venkatakrishnan.

After the financial institution’s third-quarter earnings, Staley mentioned 2021 was going to be “fairly a yr” for Barclays, as a big increase from its company funding banking division continued to propel the group’s return on tangible fairness — a key ratio used to evaluate profitability.

Revenue earlier than tax within the company and funding financial institution hit a report £5.8 billion, together with report funding banking charges and equities earnings.

Listed here are the opposite monetary highlights:

• Frequent fairness tier one capital (CET1) ratio was 15.1%, down from an all-time excessive of 15.4% on the finish of the third quarter and equal to fifteen.1% within the remaining quarter of 2020.
• Return on tangible fairness (ROTE) was 13.4%, in comparison with 14.9% within the third quarter and three.2% for the fourth quarter of 2020.
• Internet curiosity margin (NIM) was 2.52%, in comparison with 2.61% on the finish of 2020.
• The financial institution launched £700 million in credit score impairment provisions, versus a £4.8 billion cost in 2020.
• Full-year revenue earlier than tax was £8.4 billion, up from £3.1 billion in 2020.

Barclays CEO C.S. Venkatakrishnan mentioned in a press release Wednesday that 2021 was the yr wherein the financial institution’s technique set out in 2016 got here to fruition, with double-digit return on tangible fairness, a “well-capitalised steadiness sheet” and robust revenue efficiency even towards the backdrop of the pandemic.

“I’m proud that we’ve got delivered this resilient efficiency whereas persevering with to help our purchasers and clients by means of one other yr of COVID-19 associated challenges,” Venkatakrishnan mentioned.

“Taken collectively, our 2021 efficiency has enabled us meaningfully to extend returns to our shareholders, with £2.5 billion of extra capital returned by way of a complete dividend of 6.0 pence per share and £1.5 billion of introduced share buybacks.”