Barclays, Britain's third largest bank, yesterday reported a 35 per cent jump in pre-tax profits last year - to £7.14 billion (€10.6 billion) from £5.28 billion in 2005 - lifted by a strong performance from Barclays Capital.

BarCap, the debt-focused investment banking unit, saw profits climb 55 per cent to £2.22 billion, which helped to offset weaker parts of the bank such as Barclaycard, the credit card operation, where profits fell 40 per cent to £382 million.

Bad debt provisions across the bank rose 37 per cent from £1.57 billion to £2.15 billion as higher numbers of insolvencies continued to push up bad debt charges at the credit card operation.

John Varley, chief executive, said Barclays planned to open 350 bank branches outside the UK in 2007. - (Financial Times)