Results reveal a tale of two banks

Barclays yesterday reported adjusted pre-tax profits of £2.45bn in the three months to the end of March, up from £2bn a year ago. It was boosted by a rebound in revenues in its investment banking arm and a drop in bad debts – but countered by increased compensation for insurance mis-selling.

On a statutory basis, Barclays posted losses of £475m, compared with £1.66bn profits the year before. That included a £2.6bn accounting loss on the value of its own debt and an extra £300m charge to cover for mis-selling of payment protection insurance (PPI).

Barclays’ losses on bad debts dipped 16 per cent to £778m.

However, Spanish-owned Santander said UK pre-tax profits in the first three months of the year slumped 40 per cent to £347m, down from £590m a year earlier.

Santander insisted it was a “solid performance despite the difficult market conditions and the significant impact of higher regulatory and funding costs and the impact of low interest rates for longer than anticipated”.

Its figures were dented by bad debt provisions totalling £179m, up from £129m a year earlier.