Barclays is putting more money aside in case customers default on loan or mortgage repayments, despite saying the numbers falling behind bills is low, its latest financial results show.
While the bank is benefitting from higher interest rates, the amount they benefit by will be less than expected, Barclays third quarter results also said.
Income from interest rates grew to £4.856bn in the UK alone, up 13% across the nine months to the end of September.
A crucial measure of lending profitability, net interest margin, rose to 3.15%, up from 2.78% in the same three quarters in 2022.
The figure demonstrates how interest rate rises by central banks (the Bank of England in the UK) are boosting the bank’s performance. Lenders profit from the difference between the interest they receive from loans and the rate they pay depositors.
But the high will not remain, Barclays said. In the UK portion of its international business net interest margin will range from 3.05 to 3.1% for all of 2023.
To prepare for loan defaults £433m was put aside across the bank in the nine months to the end of September, up £381m for the same period a year before.
It signals worry that defaults may rise due to high interest rates and reduced house prices, meaning mortgage bills are going up but selling a house yields less money.
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Overall quarterly pre-tax profits were better than anticipated: £1.9bn from July to September.
But income from corporate and investment banking dropped 6% amid a fall in financial market and customer activity.
The outlook is gloomy with cuts alluded to by Barclays chief executive, CS Venkatakrishnan, known as Venkat.
“We see further opportunities to enhance returns for shareholders through cost efficiencies and disciplined capital allocation across the group,” he said.
Revised financial targets will be provided when full-year results are published.
Following the news Barclays’ share price dipped to the lowest level so far this year.
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There was no mention of former chief executive, Jes Staley, in the results.
He was fined £1.8m by the Financial Conduct Authority after misleading regulators and the bank’s board about his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein and banned from holding senior management positions in the financial services industry,
