Barclays' bad debts top £1bn

BARCLAYS bank is poised to write off more than £1bn of bad debt when it unveils its annual results on Thursday. The group had a £500m exposure to Argentina in June, though this is likely to have shrunk since.

It lent around £90m to collapsed US energy giant Enron, but is believed to have off-loaded most of this debt onto other banks.

Along with rivals, Barclays has also been battered by lending to the troubled telecoms sector and to airlines and insurers, which have suffered in the wake of 11 September. The total bad debt charge is likely to be around £1.1bn, sharply up from last year's £800m.

Broker Teather & Greenwood is forecasting profits of £3.74bn, as the bank, led by chief executive Matt Barrett, cashed in on Britain's consumer spending spree. Personal banking and Barclaycard have both benefited from strong demand for credit.

The bank, which took over mortgage lender Woolwich two years ago, is on target to strip more than £1bn from costs. Barclays Capital, where boss Bob Diamond earned a £10m bonus, has seen strong growth thanks to the shift out of shares into bonds by nervy investors.

Rival HSBC, which unveils its full-year results on 4 March, has denied reports that it is to close down its equities trading arm. Profits and bonuses, announced on Monday, were sharply down. HSBC said that since October, around 200 of its 4,000 London investment banking staff have left or are leaving.