London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Friday, Oct 17, 2025

Barclays reveals record annual profits and £22m Staley share award freeze

Barclays reveals record annual profits and £22m Staley share award freeze

The bank rewards both shareholders and staff as its annual profits almost treble thanks to the performance of its investment banking arm.

Barclays has revealed a leap in annual profits to a record £8.4bn and that share awards currently worth around £22m to former chief executive Jes Staley have been frozen, as he contests the findings of a regulatory probe into his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein.

The bank confirmed a story by Sky News on Tuesday when it said the board had decided against allowing long-term share awards to vest as scheduled but did not rule out granting the awards in future.

Mr Staley quit Barclays in November last year after he and the bank were made aware of the preliminary conclusions of the investigation by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA).

Jes Staley left Barclays last November, telling staff he did not want his battle with the FCA and PRA to become a distraction


It examined how Mr Staley had characterised his historic business relationship with Epstein to Barclays from the time he ran the private banking arm at JP Morgan.

The investigation, which was launched after Epstein's death while awaiting trial in 2019, made no findings that Mr Staley saw, or was aware of, any of Epstein's sex crimes, Barclays said last year.

The bank said on Wednesday that its annual results could be credited to Mr Staley's tenure.

Profits almost trebled when compared to the £3.1bn achieved in 2020.

The performance was driven by lower bad loan charges - after almost £5bn was set aside last year - with £700m of that sum now released.

It also cited a strong performance from its investment banking arm over the course of the year.

Barclays revealed a bonus pool of £1.9bn and said it would buy back one billion pounds of its own shares and increase its full-year dividend to 4p-per-share.

Shares rose almost 3%.


John Moore, senior investment manager at Brewin Dolphin, said: "The bank is now ahead of where it was pre-pandemic in share price terms and the impairment release points to confidence in its lending book.

"The increased dividend and share buyback programme are rewards for patient shareholders, and the sense of optimism in today's statement suggests there could be more to come.

"Barclays is in a strong position and, with a more diversified income base, looks to be one of the best positioned among the UK's major bank(s)."

Mr Staley was succeeded by C.S. Venkatakrishnan - known as Venkat - who signalled at that time that he backed his predecessor's strategy - including its investment banking division.

Barclays confirmed its long-standing chief financial officer Tushar Morzaria had decided to retire, with his deputy Anna Cross set to take on the role from April.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Yachts, Private Jets, and a Picasso Painting: Exposed as 'One of the Largest Frauds in History'
Australia’s Wedgetail Spies Aid NATO Response as Russian MiGs Breach Estonian Airspace
McGowan Urges Chalmers to Cut Spending Over Tax Hike to Close $20 Billion Budget Gap
Victoria Orders Review of Transgender Prison Placement Amid Safety Concerns for Female Inmates
U.S. Treasury Mobilises New $20 Billion Debt Facility to Stabilise Argentina
French Business Leaders Decry Budget as Macron’s Pro-Enterprise Promise Undermined
Trump Claims Modi Pledged India Would End Russian Oil Imports Amid U.S. Tariff Pressure
Surging AI Startup Valuations Fuel Bubble Concerns Among Top Investors
Australian Punter Archie Wilson Tears Up During Nebraska Press Conference, Sparking Conversation on Male Vulnerability
Australia Confirms U.S. Access to Upgraded Submarine Shipyard Under AUKUS Deal
“Firepower” Promised for Ukraine as NATO Ministers Meet — But U.S. Tomahawks Remain Undecided
Brands Confront New Dilemma as Extremists Adopt Fashion Labels
The Sydney Sweeney and Jeans Storm: “The Outcome Surpassed Our Wildest Dreams”
Erika Kirk Delivers Moving Tribute at White House as Trump Awards Charlie Presidential Medal of Freedom
British Food Influencer ‘Big John’ Detained in Australia After Visa Dispute
ScamBodia: The Chinese Fraud Empire Shielded by Cambodia’s Ruling Elite
French PM Suspends Macron’s Pension Reform Until After 2027 in Bid to Stabilize Government
Orange, Bouygues and Free Make €17 Billion Bid for Drahi’s Altice France Telecom Assets
Dutch Government Seizes Chipmaker After U.S. Presses for Removal of Chinese CEO
Bessent Accuses China of Dragging Down Global Economy Amid New Trade Curbs
U.S. Revokes Visas of Foreign Nationals Who ‘Celebrated’ Charlie Kirk’s Assassination
AI and Cybersecurity at Forefront as GITEX Global 2025 Kicks Off in Dubai
DJI Loses Appeal to Remove Pentagon’s ‘Chinese Military Company’ Label
EU Deploys New Biometric Entry/Exit System: What Non-EU Travelers Must Know
Australian Prime Minister’s Private Number Exposed Through AI Contact Scraper
Ex-Microsoft Engineer Confirms Famous Windows XP Key Was Leaked Corporate License, Not a Hack
China’s lesson for the US: it takes more than chips to win the AI race
Australia Faces Demographic Risk as Fertility Falls to Record Low
California County Reinstates Mask Mandate in Health Facilities as Respiratory Illness Risk Rises
Israel and Hamas Agree to First Phase of Trump-Brokered Gaza Truce, Hostages to Be Freed
French Political Turmoil Elevates Marine Le Pen as Rassemblement National Poised for Power
China Unveils Sweeping Rare Earth Export Controls to Shield ‘National Security’
The Davos Set in Decline: Why the World Economic Forum’s Power Must Be Challenged
France: Less Than a Month After His Appointment, the New French Prime Minister Resigns
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary will not adopt the euro because the European Union is falling apart.
Sarah Mullally Becomes First Woman Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury
Mayor in western Germany in intensive care after stabbing
Australian government pays Deloitte nearly half a million dollars for a report built on fabricated quotes, fake citations, and AI-generated nonsense.
US Prosecutors Gained Legal Approval to Hack Telegram Servers
Macron Faces Intensifying Pressure to Resign or Trigger New Elections Amid France’s Political Turmoil
Standard Chartered Names Roberto Hoornweg as Sole Head of Corporate & Investment Banking
UK Asylum Housing Firm Faces Backlash Over £187 Million Profits and Poor Living Conditions
UK Police Crack Major Gang in Smuggling of up to 40,000 Stolen Phones to China
BYD’s UK Sales Soar Nearly Nine-Fold, Making Britain Its Biggest Market Outside China
Trump Proposes Farm Bailout from Tariff Revenues Amid Backlash from Other Industries
FIFA Accuses Malaysia of Forging Citizenship Documents, Suspends Seven Footballers
Latvia to Bar Tourist and Occasional Buses to Russia and Belarus Until 2026
A Dollar Coin Featuring Trump’s Portrait Expected to Be Issued Next Year
Australia Orders X to Block Murder Videos, Citing Online Safety and Public Exposure
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
×