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Barclays disclosed on March 28 that it had exceeded a U.S. limit
on sales of structured products, triggering a loss and a
potential restatement of its 2021 accounts.
Venkatakrishnan, who is known inside the bank as Venkat, told
reporters that Barclays had found no evidence to date of
deliberate misconduct relating to the error and that the bank
was working with all its regulators.
Barclays said on Thursday it planned to start the 1 billion
pound ($1.25 billion) buyback "as soon as practicable" following
resolution with the U.S. authorities.
Dealing with the fallout from the blunder poses an early test
for Venkatakrishnan, who took over following the shock exit of
Jes Staley in November and who previously ran both the
investment bank and the bank's risk operations.
Barclays posted more than 500 million pounds in litigation and
conduct costs in the first quarter, including a 320 million
pound provision at its investment bank for the trading mishap.
The bank said the estimated total provision for the error was
540 million pounds.
STRONG INVESTMENT BANK
The breach marred an otherwise strong performance at Barclays,
with trading at its investment bank lifted by market volatility.
The investment bank, which had faced criticism from activist
shareholder Edward Bramson, gave cause for cheer, with income up
10% to 3.9 billion pounds.
The bank's fixed income, currencies and commodities (FICC) unit
posted an income rise of 37%, while global markets - which
houses its equities business - was up 26%.
At the group level, Barclays posted pretax profits of 2.2
billion pounds, down from 2.4 billion a year earlier but ahead
of market expectations.
The bank's shares were up 1.4% by 0810 GMT, lagging the European
index of banking shares which was up 2%.
The bank's core capital ratio, a key indicator of financial
strength, fell by 130 basis points to 13.8%, largely due to a
14.7 billion pound rise in risk-weighted assets to 328.8
billion.
While volatility had boosted its investment bank, Venkat said
inflation was likely to hit its retail customers hard, although
credit conditions remained benign.
"All of whom are facing far harder conditions this year as a
result of inflation, supply chain issues and higher energy
costs," he said.
($1 = 0.7968 pounds)
(Reporting by Lawrence White and Iain Withers; Editing by Sinead
Cruise and David Clarke)
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