Image: BarclaysbarclaBarclays has reported a 21% fall in profits for the first half of 2016 after setting aside yet another £400 million for Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) compensation.
The bank said profits fell from £2.6bn to £2bn, but it took a huge £1.9bn hit on losses in areas of the business it plans to sell. Profits in its key retail and investment banking division rose 19% to £3.9bn, however.
The big banks had hoped the PPI scandal was coming to the end with regulators enforcing a deadline for claims to be made, but Barclays latest addition to the PPI fund means it has set aside a grand total of £7.8bn for compensation.
Jes Staley, the bank's chief executive, said Barclays would continue its strategy of selling-off fringe aspects of the business in order to strengthen its core retail and investment banking divisions, despite the vote to leave the European Union.
He said: "We remain confident that it is the right plan for Barclays, and see no reason to adjust it, or the pace of delivery, in light of the vote by the UK last month to exit the EU."
However, Mr Staley did raise concerns over the impact Brexit would have on "passporting" - which allows banks to operating throughout the EU, and the bank's ability to hire the best talent.
Laith Khalaf, senior analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: "Barclays is a bit of a Jekyll and Hyde character at the moment, but Doctor Jekyll is starting to gain more control, as all the grisly bits of the bank get wound down.
"The new boss, Jes Staley, seems determined to get on with the task of getting rid of the bad bank sooner rather than later.
"If and when Barclays gets rid of its non-core businesses it should start to look more like an upstanding citizen of the banking sector, but that is still going to take until 2017 at least, a decade after the banking crisis kicked off."
