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Half-year profit of Barclays decreased with 30%

The British bank Barclays announced that its profit before tax for the first 6 months of the year was 2.6 billion pounds, which is 33% less than the same period of 2010. However, it includes a fee of £ 1 billion to settle claims for lost sales of insurance protection contributions. The bank also indicated that revenue from its investments in bonds and commodities fell. Most of the profits of the credit institution comes from its unit investment banking Barclays Capital, which includes part of the former U.S. bank Lehman Brothers, but even there profit decreased by 9% annually to 2.3 billion pounds. Despite reduced earnings chief executive of Barclays, Bob Diamond said he was pleased with the results in this economic environment, defined by him as "gray". He claimed that the bank has implemented and its agreement with the government to lend British businesses.
"We have delivered on their commitments under the Merlin and increased by 20 billion pounds of new lending business in the first half of the year", said Diamond. This figure also includes loans amounting to 7 billion pounds for small and medium businesses.
Meanwhile, the bank may cut up to 3 thousand jobs this year in an attempt to reduce costs. The agency quoted Diamond as saying in the first half of the year 1400 people redundant, and their number in the second half may increase. "You can assume that this trend will continue and even develop some degree," said the CEO.