Barclays first quarter profit beats expectations on credit card boom

Barclays reported a first quarter profit that exceeded expectations on Thursday, as a strong performance from its consumer banking business offset pressure on key other business lines, Reuters reported.

The British bank reported pretax profit of 2.6 billion pounds ($3.25 billion), above the average analyst forecast of 2.2 billion pounds as compiled by the bank, and higher than the 2.2 billion pounds it reported in the same period a year ago.

Income at the lender’s consumer, cards and payments division rose 47% to 1.3 billion pounds, thanks to rising credit card balances driven partly by its acquisition of a portfolio from retailer Gap last year.

Investment banking, a source of strength in recent quarters, was more mixed, with income from the global markets trading business sliding 8% and fees from advising on corporate deals also down 7%.