Barclays profits rise by almost a third to £6.1bn

On the up: despite the huge rise in profits chief executive Bob Diamond believes there is still "much more to do" to satisfy shareholders

11 April 2012

Barclays profits jumped by almost a third last year beating City forecasts at £6.1 billion.

Despite the rise the bank said that bonuses across the group would fall by 7% to £3.4 billion and those at Barclays Capital, the investment bank had fallen 12% to £2.6 million.

This is in line with the Project Merlin agreement with the Government, signed last week, which said UK banks should pay less in bonuses in 2010 than they did in 2009.

Chief executive Bob Diamond, who is in line for a £9 million bonus, said that while that was a significant rise in profit he believed there was still "much more to do" to satisfy shareholders.

He said the bank plans to "take out considerable running costs over the medium-term."

Pre-tax profit rose 32% to £6.1 billion and the dividend for the year has been increased from 2.5p a share to 5.5p.

BarCap's profits rose just 2% to £4.4 billion.