Barclays warns on consumer debt problems
Link: Barclays warns on consumer debt problems
Shares in Barclays fell by over 4%, after the bank issued a trading statement for the quarter to March 2005, reporting that consumer bad debts were worse than expected. On a positive note, good profits growth was recorded during the first quarter. Barclays previously expected defaulted personal debts of £1.4bn this year, compared with £1.1bn in 2004.
The increase in bad debt was largest at the bank’s Barclaycard credit card subsidiary. Barclays is the UK’s biggest credit card lender.
Last week, rival bank HSBC also reported a worsening in UK consumer lending quality.
Revenue at Barclays’ UK retail bank remained fairly static in during the period under review, due to weaker mortgage and retail savings income.
