Barclays, a UK banking giant, has reported a pre-tax profit of £2.6bn for Q1 2023, beating analyst expectations and marking the bank's highest quarterly profit since

2011. This rise is due to income from the lender's consumer, credit card, and payments division surging by 47% to £1.3bn, driven by rising credit card balances, thanks to its acquisition of a portfolio from retailer Gap last year.

The bank's bad loans provision rose to £524m, up from £141m a year earlier, due primarily to its US cards business. Investment banking recorded a total income of nearly £4bn, but mergers and acquisitions activity shrank to its lowest in over a decade. Barclays shares rose by 2.64% in early morning trading. Photo by Matt Brown, Wikimedia commons.