Barclays sorry for Libor as profits top $6.6b

LONDON: British bank Barclays Plc
on Friday apologized for an interest rate rigging scandal that has
rocked it and the banking industry in the past month as it beat
expectations with an underlying half-year profit of more than 4 billion
pounds.
"We are sorry for the issues that have emerged over
recent weeks and recognize that we have disappointed our customers and
shareholders," Chairman Marcus Agius said, as he reaffirmed a commitment to deliver a return on equity of 13 percent.
Barclays
reported an underlying pretax profit of 4.2 billion pounds ($6.6
billion) for the six months to the end of June, above an average
forecast of 3.8 billion pounds from analysts polled by the company and
up 13 percent from a year ago.
Statutory profits fell 71 percent
to 759 million pounds including one-off items such as a 290 million
pound fine for rigging Libor interest rates and a 450 million pound
provision to cover the mis-selling of interest rate hedging products. -
Reuters