Barclays has revealed its profits jumped by 17% over the first half of 2026 as its investment bank cashed in on more dealmaking and activity in the financial markets.
This helped to offset the banking group setting aside more to cover bad debts.
Barclays reported a pre-tax profit of £6.1 billion for the first six months of the year, up from £5.2 billion in the same period a year ago.
This also came in higher than the £5.9 billion that most analysts had been expecting.
Barclays said its balance sheet was boosted by higher income from divisions including its UK bank, which rose by 8% year-on-year to £4.5 billion, and its investment bank, which jumped by 11% to £8 billion.
Greater levels of activity from investors in the global markets and increased income from equities, coupled with higher fees helped deliver a boost for the investment banking arm, Barclays said.
It follows a period of heightened volatility in the world’s financial markets in response to the US-Israel’s war with Iran while there has also been increased dealmaking with a string of buyers snapping up UK-listed firms this year.
However, the banking giant said its credit impairment charges for bad loans increased to £1.4 billion for the half-year period, from £1.1 billion the year before.
This was largely driven by a one-off hit of £228 million relating to a single company affecting its investment banking operations in the first quarter of 2026.
It was understood that this referred to the collapse of UK property lender Market Financial Solutions (MFS) earlier this year amid allegations of fraud.
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