Barclays sees a fall in both profits and share price after weaker-than-expected annual earnings.

The expenses associated with an administrative error that caused Barclays to oversell securities in the United States largely caused a decline in deal fees generated by its investment bank, resulting in a 14% drop in yearly earnings.

Pretax profits for 2022 were announced by the British lender at £7 billion ($8.5 billion), down from £8.2 billion the previous year and shy of the average expert projection of £7.2 billion, according to data gathered by the bank.

Returns on equity recorded by the global division, which includes Barclays' transatlantic investment bank, dropped from 14.4% to 10.2% over the previous year as income from consulting on debt and equity fundraising fell.

The division's profits before taxes also decreased by 23% to almost £5 billion.

Barclays said that its traditional strength in fixed income, currencies, and commodities (FICC) trading revenues increased by 65% to £5.7 billion in 2022, outpacing American competitors Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs, who reported year-over-year rises of 20% and 38%, correspondingly.

In accordance with expectations, Barclays distributed an annual dividend of 7.25 pence per share and also announced a new share purchase of £500 million, bringing the total for 2022 to £1 billion.

Barclays reported £1.6 billion in litigation and conduct charges for the year, including penalties and compensation to clients who exceeded agreed-upon caps on investment product sales in the United States.

Within the financial statement, which was also released on Wednesday, Barclays stated that it had reduced the compensation of its top executives by a total of £1 million to reflect the regulatory errors.

As Britain's economy continued to falter, Barclays' profits were further harmed by £1.2 billion in credit impairment costs.

Analysts and investors are expected to pay greater attention to Barclays' forward-looking statements regarding the outlook for this year than to its performance in 2022 because it is the first major British bank to disclose its annual profits this week.

(Barlcays.co.uk)