Barclays has bounced back into the black with an annual net profit of £1.62bn for 2016.
Putting the change in fortunes down to the bank’s restructuring plans, bosses reported a profit before tax of £3.2bn for 2016, up from £1.1bn the year before.
The reorganisation has included the sale of its Africa business.
Bosses also cited sharp fall in conduct and litigation charges and a surge in investment banking revenues as boosting the bank’s coffers.
Jes Staley, who has been Barclays chief executive for just over a year, said: “We are now just months away from completing the restructuring of Barclays, and I am more optimistic than ever for our prospects in 2017, and beyond.”
Mr Staley has taken a contrarian bet by “doubling down” on the future of Barclays’ investment bank at the expense of scaling back to focus on the US and UK while selling its large African operations and cutting the dividend in half.
Overall the bank’s revenues declined 3 per cent to £21.5bn, while pre-tax profits almost trebled to £3.23bn.
It shifted from a net loss of £394m in 2015 to a net profit of £1.62bn.
It cut the dividend from 6.5p per share to 3p.
The bank’s international unit, which includes its investment bank, increased its pre-tax profits from £2.3bn to £4.1bn, while revenues rose by 9 per cent to £15bn.
The bonus pool was cut by 1 per cent to £1.53bn. Meanwhile, pre-tax profits at its UK unit, which includes the main British high street bank, more than trebled to £1.74bn and revenues were up 2 per cent at £7.5bn.
Total conduct and litigation costs at the group were down 69 per cent at £1.36bn.
emma.hughes@ft.com
