Barclays has set aside an extra £700m to meet compensation claims for mis-selling payment protection insurance, BBC reports.
The news came as the bank said costs related to the sale of part of its Africa unit had pushed it into a £1.2bn (Shs5.6bn) loss in the first half of the year.
The sale of the Africa business was part of Barclays’ plan to focus on the UK and US.
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Stripping out the losses from the Africa sale, Barclays posted a 13% rise in group pre-tax profits to £2.34bn.
Barclays chief executive Jes Staley said: “Our business is now radically simplified, the restructuring is complete, our capital ratio is within our end-state target range, and, while we are also working to put conduct issues behind us, we can now focus on what matters most to our shareholders: improving group returns.”
The money the bank has set aside to deal with PPI complaints was still open to review, it said. On Thursday, Lloyds also set aside a further £700m.
Earlier this year, Barclays sold a near 34% stake in Barclays Africa Group, leaving it with just 15% of the business.
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The company said the sale of the stake had led to a loss of £1.4bn, and it had also taken a £1.1bn charge on the sale.
Barclay’s Africa Group said on Friday its half-year profit rose 7% driven by earnings growth in its local market and the rest of Africa and a strong performance in corporate banking.
In addition to Barclays’ exit from Africa, the bank said it had run-down assets in its non-core division to below £25bn, enabling it to close the unit six months early.
