Barclays profits down 19% - papers

Pre-tax profit to the end of September was £4.542bn, down 19% on last year, reports the BBC. Rival HSBC says its pre-tax profits for the period are "ahead" of a year ago, though fell short of releasing an exact figure. Unlike rival RBS, neither Barclays nor HSBC needed direct government support. Despite a fall in profits for the nine months, Barclays' revenues were up 26% from a year earlier to £23.8bn. When Barclays' bad debt provisions and other one-off factors are pulled out, pre-tax profits before exceptional items totalled £4.4bn for the nine months, more than double a year...