Barclays: reports quarterly loss as charges hit

(CercleFinance.com) - Barclays booked 2 billion pounds of charges in the first quarter, largely affecting the bank's results over the period.


These litigation and conduct charges principally relate to a 1.4 billion pound settlement with the United States Department of Justice (DoJ) relating to the sale of Residential Mortgage-Backed Securities between 2005 and 2007, Barclays said.

They also include additional charges of 400 million pounds relating to Payment Protection Insurance (PPI).

As a result, the group loss before tax reached 236 million pounds over the quarter, compared to a profit of around 1.7 billion pounds in the first quarter of 2017.

Excluding charges, profit before tax would have increased 1%, driven by an improvement in credit impairment charges, and the improvement of the US economy.

The settlement with the US Department of Justice, together with additional PPI-related charges, reduced the bank's Common Equity Tier 1 ratio to 12.7%, although Barclays said that it is confident that it will return to around 13% "in good time."

The London-listed shares were down 2.1% at 208.5 pence after these comments.

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