Barclays has published its Q1 2020 Results
Jes Staley, Group CEO said:
“Barclays is committed to supporting its customers, clients and the UK economy through the crisis. Despite the macroeconomic downturn caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Group’s position remains robust, reflecting our diversified business model”
“An event like the COVID-19 pandemic makes everyone focus on what’s really important right now. For us, that means running the bank safely and soundly, helping our customers and clients through the difficulties they face, supporting the UK economy and the communities where we live and work, and taking care of our colleagues around the world.
I am incredibly proud of the way my colleagues have worked with such dedication and resilience to adapt to the crisis, applying their skills to deliver new products and services, bringing help where it is needed as quickly as we can. From colleagues serving customers in branches and call centres, to our technology teams, to our traders who help our clients to navigate volatile markets. Operationally, it has been extraordinarily challenging to deliver services under very tough conditions and constraints, and those challenges look set to remain in the near term.
We welcome the government and Bank of England’s business support programmes and have introduced additional measures to back UK companies ourselves. They are now having a real impact. As at 24 April 2020 we have facilitated significant commercial paper issuance though the Covid Corporate Financing Facility, lent £737m in Coronavirus Business Interruption Loans, approved over 238,000 mortgage and loan payment holidays, and over 6 million customers and clients are currently paying no personal overdraft or business banking charges. We have launched a community aid package; through which we are donating £100m to support those who are being hardest hit by COVID-19. We expect that all of these measures will help to limit the economic and social impact of the pandemic.
The impact of COVID-19 came late in what was until that point a good quarter. Statutory profit before tax was £0.9bn and profit before tax excluding credit impairment charges was £3.0bn. We have taken a £2.1bn credit impairment charge which reflects our initial estimates of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The strength of Barclays lies in our diversification by business, geography and currency, which allows us to remain resilient through the developing economic downturn.
Q1 represented a strong income performance in the Corporate and Investment Bank (CIB), where our Markets business had a record quarter as we supported our clients through a period of extreme volatility.
Barclays UK, and Consumer, Cards and Payments (CC&P) showed a resilient income performance in Q1 despite challenges that are expected to remain for the rest of the year.
Group return on tangible equity (RoTE) was 5.1% for the quarter, with attributable profit of £604m, and earnings per share (EPS) of 3.5 pence, excluding litigation and conduct.
Barclays remains well capitalised with a common equity tier 1 (CET1) ratio of 13.1%. Given the uncertainty around the developing economic downturn and low interest rate environment, 2020 is expected to be challenging. However, we believe that a RoTE of greater than 10% remains the right target for the bank over time.
In response to a request from the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA), we cancelled the full year 2019 dividend payment of 6 pence per ordinary share, and the Board will decide on future dividends and its capital returns policy at year-end 2020.
Despite all the challenges we face as a consequence of COVID-19, I am confident Barclays will emerge from this pandemic, well placed to continue to serve our customers and clients, the communities and economies in which we operate, and our shareholders.”
