Barclays closed the first half with net profit down to 70 million pounds (89 million euros), practically zero compared to 1,5 billion a year ago. The British bank, which presented the official apology for role played in the Libor rate scandal, announced a new £450m provision for litigation related to sales of interest rate hedging products.
At the same time, the British bank announced that it has reduced exposure to European peripheral government bonds by 22% to £5,6bni.e. Spain, Italy, Portugal, Ireland, Greece and Cyprus. As far as Italy is concerned, in particular, the share of public debt held by Barclays fell by 27% to 2,6 billion, a decline mainly linked to 'the maturity of government bonds held for trading purposes'.
