Barclays welcomes signs of economic recovery as profits soar

The banking giant said there were signs the economic recovery had started as its underlying profit, excluding gains on acquisition and disposals, rose a huge 90%. Its strengthened investment banking unit continued to perform strongly with profit before tax up 47% to £1.47bn. Retail banking also made a big contribution to the profit rise, up 20% to £238m. However, this included a £71m profit on the acquisition of Standard Life Bank.