Barclays takes a further £800 million hit for potential forex settlements
Bank has now set aside £2.05 billion to cover any settlement for alleged manipulation
Barclays set aside another £800 million (HK$9.5 billion) yesterday to cover potential settlements for alleged foreign exchange manipulation, hitting profits and reflecting its struggle to put past problems behind it.
The bank said it had now set aside £2.05 billion to cover any settlement, after the extra provision to reflect "developments with certain authorities" since it last reported in March.
"We are working hard to expedite their settlement," chief executive Antony Jenkins said, but the bank did not provide any more details on any potential deal.
Barclays pulled out of a settlement between US and British authorities and six rival banks in November because it had not reached a deal with New York's regulator. It said it wanted to settle the allegations with as many agencies as possible in one go.
New York's banking regulator said it could reach a deal with Barclays next month if it excluded a probe of the possible rigging of rates through computer programs. It could take several more months if that trading was included.
Barclays also set aside another £150 million for compensating customer mis-sold insurance products in Britain, which has now cost Barclays £5.4 billion and all British banks more than £26 billion.