Barclays, the UK's third- largest bank, posted a 62 per cent decline in full-year profit, beating analyst estimates, as writedowns shrank.
Net income for 2010 fell to £3.56 billion after a one-time gain from the sale of its asset management unit boosted profit to £9.39 billion the previous year, the London-based bank said.
Analysts had expected profit of £3.2 billion. Barclays reaped £6.33 billion from the sale of its Barclays Global Investors asset management unit in December 2009. Writedowns dropped 39 per cent to £5.67 billion in 2010.
The bank allocated £3.4 billion in total performance awards for its employees for 2010, down 7 per cent on 2009. The bank also said it was setting aside 43 per cent of revenue at its investment banking unit, Barclays Capital, for pay and bonuses, up from 33 per cent in 2009.
"The decisions that we have made on compensation for 2010 are sensitive to the external environment," the bank said in a statement today. "Our decisions are also fully compliant with the significantly altered regulations that now govern discretionary pay awards."
It's time for banks to end "the period of remorse and apology" and start rebuilding confidence, chief executive Robert Diamond (59) told a parliamentary committee last month. Britain's four biggest banks, including Barclays, last week promised chancellor of the exchequer George Osborne "that total bonuses for their UK-based staff will be lower than last year".
Mr Diamond, Barclays Capital's former chief, replaced John Varley as chief executive officer last month and is leading a review of Barclays's operations that may close units that aren't producing sufficient returns relative to the capital they need.
"We continue to see good impairment trends across the group and are cautiously optimistic that we will see further improvement in 2011," finance director Chris Lucas, said.
Barclays fell 0.1 per cent to 310.75 pence in London trading yesterday. The stock has gained 19 per cent this year, making it the best-performer of Britain's five biggest banks.
Bloomberg
