Debts under control at Barclays

Banking giant Barclays said today that it had seen no signs of rising debt levels, despite consumers coming under pressure from interest rate hikes.

The bank’s debt charges for unsecured credit “continued to improve” in UK banking, while mortgage charges were “negligible”.

In a reassuring update, Barclays added that debt charges also improved at its Barclaycard credit card business during the three months to September.

It said Barclaycard profits “grew strongly” in the third quarter, adding that its UK banking division was on course to meet full-year targets after taking settlement of overdraft fees into account.

The company, which wrote off £1.3bn (€1.8bn) from its investment banking business two weeks ago following the turmoil in credit markets, said today that earnings this year would be “broadly in line” with market consensus.

Barclays made profits of £7.14bn (€4.8bn) last year, although market analysts estimate this will fall slightly to £7.1bn (€4.7bn) in 2007.

The bank said its UK retail banking operation had seen “good growth” in mortgages and customer deposits. Profits also improved at its business banking division, which saw slowing growth in bad debt charges.

The group added that its Barclaycard business was on track to make profits in the US this year, despite the group’s other problems across the Atlantic on exposure to high-risk “sub-prime” US mortgages.

Income growth from its overseas business was “very strong” despite lower pre-tax profits from South African bank Absa due to the weakening of the rand against the pound.

Chief executive John Varley said: “The diversification of our profits in recent years, together with the investments we have made in businesses both inside and outside the UK, is serving us well in 2007.”

Barclays made around 50% of its profits from international operations during the first half of the year.

Mr Varley added that the group’s investment banking business had been “resilient in the face of turbulent market conditions” during the second half of the year.

Barclays lost out to rival Royal Bank of Scotland in a takeover battle for Dutch bank ABN Amro in October.