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Category: Banking Date: 2/10/2012
Barclays Bank has announced that profits fell by 3% to £5.9 billion last year, despite an upturn in total income.
It is the first of the major UK banks to announce its full-year results for 2011.
Unveiling its 2011 results, Barclays said it had recorded a 3% rise in income, up to £32.3 billion over the 12 months.
The group's chief executive said he was 'proud' of what Barclays had achieved in 2011.
"Against the backdrop of challenging economic and market conditions, we maintained our focus on clients and customers while supporting the real economy, as well as the needs of our shareholders, colleagues and the communities in which we operate," he added.
On high street banking, Barclays said it had reduced banking complaints (excluding payment protection insurance) by 30%, and had significantly improved customer satisfaction.
The bank set aside £400 million to deal with PPI complaints last year, although this was less than some of its high street competitors.
Barclays lent £17.2 billion for mortgages in the 12 months – 12% of total lending in the UK, while retail savings and investment balances increased by 3% to £111.8 billion.
Lending to small and medium sized firms totalled £14.7 billion in the year, meaning Barclays exceeded its target set by the Government under the Project Merlin scheme.
It made up £43.6 billion of new lending to businesses in 2011.
The bank's investment arm Barclays Capital saw profits fall in the year, driven by a 22% decline in income to £10.3 billion.
Income in the fourth quarter of 2011 of £1.8 billion was a decline of almost a fifth (19%) on the third quarter of 2011 as worries over the Eurozone debt crisis had an adverse effect on investments.
The bank said that the amount paid in bonuses in its investment arm fell by 32% to £1.5 billion last year, although there were no details on any bonus paid to chief executive Bob Diamond.
Across Barclays Bank, the bonus pool fell by 25% to £2.15 billion with cash bonuses capped at £65,000.
The average bonus paid to Barclays Bank employees in 2011 was £15,200.
The bank also announced that it had strengthened its reserves held to insure against more economic troubles by 11%, while losses on bad loans were down by a third to £3.8 billion.
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