Barclays has become the latest UK bank to warn about the impact of the cost of living crisis, saying that its customers were already facing “harder conditions” as a result of surging inflation. While Barclays said it was still facing “low delinquencies” so far, it acknowledged uncertainty about the long-term impacts of the war in Ukraine, which contributed to a 7% rise in UK inflation last month. The bank’s chief executive, CS Venkatakrishnan, said the bank was staying in touch with customers who may be struggling financially as a result of the cost of living crisis. Barclays’ concerns about inflation echo those raised earlier this week by other UK banks including Lloyds and HSBC. Profits would have been even higher had Barclays not put aside more than £500m to cover legal costs related to the over-selling of American financial products.

Source: The Guardian April 28, 2022 17:38 UTC