He notes in a second quarter update the restructuring remains the “right plan for Barclays”, and he see “no reason to adjust it, or the pace of delivery, in light of the vote by the United Kingdom last month to exit the European Union”.
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The British lender on Friday posted a half-year profit before tax of 2 billion pounds ($2.64 billion) compared with 2.6 billion pounds for the same period a year ago. Staley is selling down its century-old African business, pulling the investment bank out of nine countries and has eliminated more than 10,000 jobs, while trying to divest about 50 billion pounds of toxic and unwanted assets. The bank recorded a loss before tax of GBP1.9 billion selling down these assets.
Barclays PLC on Friday said that first-half net profit slipped almost a third as the bank sucked up losses selling down unwanted assets and put aside cash to cover rising bad loans.
Barclays (BARC) has jumped to the top of the FTSE 100 as the bank reported improving returns in its “core” business and said plans to dispose of “non-core” assets would not be derailed by the “Brexit” vote.
Boss Jes Staley said: “This has been a quarter of very encouraging progress against our strategy”.
It said it remained on course to deliver a full-year cost target of 12.8 billion pounds on its core unit.
He added: “Given the inherent diversification of our business model, coupled with a longstanding conservative approach to risk, Barclays is well positioned to weather any potential economic consequences of that decision”.
Barclays is reshaping its operations.
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“This has been a quarter of very encouraging progress against our strategy”, Barclays’ chief executive Jes Staley said in the statement, adding that the group remained “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 United Kingdom last month to exit the EU”.
