Barclays boss is vindicated as bank hits record profit of £6.9bn

BARCLAYS landed record profits of £6.9 billion in the last nine months, setting the stage for a bumper round of bonus payments to top bankers in London and New York.

- Simon English

Those profits are triple what they were a year ago and will be seen as a vindication of the strategy pursued by CEO Jes Staley, who fought to keep the bank’s investment banking arm in the face of scepticism from some in the City and outright protests from some investors.

Barclays has been involved in many of the biggest takeover deals this year, also raising money for clients who needed cash to survive in many cases.

Staley told the Standard: “We have been questioned for the last six years as to whether this strategy would work, can we manage the investment bank, can we compete with the big Wall Street banks. This is a pretty strong answer.”