Barclays To Cut 3000 Jobs As Profits Drop

First half pre-tax profits fell by a third at Barclays but the bank has confirmed it is meeting its Government-agreed targets to lend to small businesses.

The profit figure was £2.64bn - ahead of the bank's own expectations - but 33% lower than during the same period last year.

The performance was hit by the previously announced £1bn cost provision for the Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) scandal.

Unlike its rivals, Barclays confirmed in June it would settle PPI compensation claims on a 'no quibble' basis.

Barclays said it would have seen profits increase 24% to £3.7bn in the period - ahead of City expectations - had it not been for the writedown.

Speaking at a telephone conference this morning, Barclays chief executive Bob Diamond said he felt the bank's business had "performed well" over the first six months of 2011.

As Sky News city editor Mark Kleinman revealed, Barclays is also more than halfway to meeting the targets it agreed with Government this year in relation to lending to small businesses (SMEs) and business customers overall.

It exceeded its Project Merlin requirements through increased gross new lending to businesses of £20bn, including £7bn to SMEs.

The company suffered 1,400 job losses in the last 6 months with another 1,600 expected to go in the second half.

Mr Diamond did not confirm where the cuts would be made but said: "You should assume this trend to continue and increase somewhat."

The figures are the latest from the banking sector after HSBC revealed its half-year performance yesterday - a pre tax profit of £7bn - but confirmed 30,000 job losses.

Taxpayer-backed Lloyds Banking Group and Royal Bank of Scotland announce their figures on Thursday and Friday respectively.

Lloyds is expected to report a steep reduction in underlying pre-tax profits of £1bn while profits at RBS are forecast to come in at £610m, a fall of around 19%.

Mr Diamond also said the UK was "ahead of the curve" in restructuring its economy and that this had removed the prospect of the country losing its triple-A credit rating for the time being.