Barclay’s has posted a 16% decline in annual profit, with net income for 2011 falling to £3bn from £3.56bn in 2010. The bank also announced that it may fail to meet CEO Bob Diamond’s profitability target of reaching 13% return-on-equity by 2013 after a 6.6% return last year.
The first major British bank to report full year earnings also raised its cost-cutting target to £2bn, reducing its bonus budget by 32%. Diamond insisted that, despite the market volatility that has eaten into profits, Barclay’s is still aiming to double the return on equity in the near future. “The target remains 13 percent,” he told reporters. “Because of some of the external headwinds, we can’t be as convinced that 2013 will be the year.”
