The UK-headquartered group, which provides private banking within its offerings, reported quarterly figures yesterday.

Barclays, the UK banking group that provides private banking and wealth management services in its offerings, has reported a third-quarter profit, attributable to shareholders, of £1.274 billion ($1.55 billion), falling 16 per cent year-on-year.

The lender doesn’t give specific financial figures for its private banking and wealth management business.

Total income in Q3 rose 5 per cent on a year earlier to £6.258 billion; operating costs were steady at £6.258 billion. Credit impairment charges rose to £433 million, up 14 per cent. Return on equity dropped to 11 per cent from 12.5 per cent; earnings per share fell to 8.3 pence from 9.4 pence, it said in a statement yesterday.

At the end of September 2023 Barclays said it had a Common Equity Tier 1 ratio – a measure of its capital buffer against shocks – of 14 per cent, up from 13.8 per cent. Its leverage ratio was unchanged at 5 per cent.

Barclays said it is “evaluating actions to reduce structural costs to help drive future returns, which may result in material additional charges” in the fourth quarter. The bank said it is aiming at a cost/income ratio percentage in the low 60s in 2023, wth a "medium-term target" of below 60 per cent. in Q3, the ratio was 63 per cent. The bank is also targeting a return on tangible equity of more than 10 per cent this year, excluding any such structural costs actions. 

At 10:30 London time, shares in the bank were down around 4.6 per cent at 137.46 per share. Shares have been under pressure for much of this year, falling from 186 pence on 13 February, and back to near their level 12 months earlier.

“This was a mixed quarter for Barclays. Higher rates are still providing a healthy tailwind, more than offsetting the impact of a weaker mortgage market and a shift in deposit levels. But it well and truly looks like net interest margin has peaked for the UK arm, with full-year guidance pulled lower," Matt Britzman, equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said. "Consumers are no longer happy to park their cash in low-rate current accounts and are going shopping for higher yields, be that from money market funds, cash savings platforms or term deposit accounts – all of which are a hit to banking profit margins and deposit levels."

"Profit came in ahead of expectations as losses for expected bad loans were better than feared. Credit card delinquencies in both the UK and the US remain at relatively low levels for now, despite increasing pressure on disposable incomes. Though keep an eye on the US, where things look to be trending in a more precarious direction," he added.