Barclays profits soar to £11.6bn
Updated on 16 February 2010
Barclays annual profits rise by 92 per cent to £11.6bn, but the bank's two most
senior managers turn down bonuses for a second year.
The record pre-tax profits for 2009 were boosted by the sale of the Barclays Global Investors investment banking division to US giant BlackRock for £6.3 bn.
Without that figure, Barclays profits were £5.3bn, with £2.5bn from its Barclays Capital investment banking business (BarCap).
Barclays did not take taxpayer money during the financial crisis, raising money instead from middle east investors.
The bank said bonus payments across the group totalled £2.7 bn.
The vast majority of these bonuses were paid to 23,000 investment bankers at BarCap. The average payment for its employees was £191,000.
But Barclays Chief Executive John Varley and President Bob Diamond will not get a bonus for a second successive year following what the bank described as "intense public interest and concern" about bankers' salaries.
Barclays will pay £225m towards the bonus tax announced by Chancellor Alistair Darling last year.
Markets reacted warmly to the better-than-expected profits.
Shares in Barclays jumped eight per cent during early trading.
