Barclays sets aside £1bn for bad debts

Barclays today said the amount of money it set aside to cover bad debts rose by 50% to top £1bn (€1.5bn) in the first half of this year.

The increase was driven by Barclaycard, where impairment charges lifted by 37% to £696m (€1bn) and caused profits in the credit card business to fall 14%.