British bank Barclays, which has agreed to buy Dutch rival ABN Amro, says it has made a strong start to 2007, with 'good growth' in UK retail bank profit.
Britain's third biggest bank said in a trading update that its market share of new UK mortgages had improved. The bad debt charge for its Barclaycard division had fallen, it also said.
Barclays had already said pre-tax profit in the first quarter was 15% above a year earlier, or up 10% excluding property gains, and Barclays Capital had its best quarter ever.
BarCap's growth was driven by a strong income contribution across assets and regions, particularly in commodities, equities and mortgage products, it said.
The bank said late last night it was making 'excellent progress' on its agreed €64 billion takeover of ABN Amro. It expects to publish its offer document for the takeover in about six weeks, it said.
