Barclays profit down a third as fixed income trading falls

LONDON: Barclays said its half-year profits fell by a third after a fall in bond trading activity at its investment bank and a charge to compensate customers mis-sold insurance, offsetting a sharp improvement in bad debt charges.

The British bank on Tuesday reported pretax profit in the six months to the end of June of 2.64 billion pounds, down 33 percent from a year ago but above the average forecast of 2.4 billion pounds of analysts polled by the company.

Barclays Capital's half-year profit fell 9 percent on the year and income at the investment banking arm was down 11 percent to 6.26 billion pounds, led by a fall in fixed income revenue. The bank also took a 1 billion pound charge to cover compensation for the mis-selling of insurance policies in Britain, which had been signalled previously.

Copyright Reuters, 2011