The wealth and investment management business of Barclays, the UK-listed banking group, reported an adjusted pre-tax profit of £79 million (around $127 million) in the third quarter of 2012, up from £65 million a year ago, it said today.

For the bank as a whole, total adjusted pre-tax profit stood at £1.727 billion, up from £1.337 billion a year ago.

Barclays has been rocked during the summer by the interbank interest rate rigging scandal, a saga that has seen the resignation of senior managers including its high-profile chief executive, Robert Diamond, and penalties totalling £290 million imposed by UK and US regulators.

"These results demonstrate that we continue to have good momentum in our businesses despite the difficulties we faced through this period. While we have much to do to restore trust among stakeholders, our universal banking franchise remains strong and well positioned. I am proud of how our colleagues have continued to focus on delivering for our customers and clients, and am grateful for our customers' and clients' continued loyalty to Barclays,” Antony Jenkins, current CEO, said.

For the bank as a whole in the nine months to end-September, there was an 86 per cent fall in its statutory profit before tax to £712 million, including an own credit charge of £4.019 billion (2011: gain of £2.971 billion), gain on disposal of BlackRock investment of £227 million (2011: impairment/loss of £1.858 billion) and a £1.000 billion (2011: £1.0 billion) provision for Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) redress, of which £700 million was recognized in the third quarter. The firm had a core Tier 1 capital ratio of 11.2 per cent at the end of September.

Over nine months to the end of September this year, total income, net of insurance claims, by the wealth and investment arm was £1.334 billion, a year-on-year gain of 3 per cent. Adjusted profit before tax over nine months was £200 million, a 31 per cent increase, the firm said in a statement today.

At the end of September, Barclays’ wealth and investment division saw its margins improve slightly, with a cost-income ratio of 83 per cent, contracting from 86 per cent a year before.

Total client assets rose to £177.6 billion at the end of September from £176.1 billion at the end of June this year. The gains principally reflected gains in the high net worth business, Barclays said.