Barclays chief executive Jes Staley said today that the bank is "just months away" from completing an overhaul as he unveiled a surge in annual profits.
The UK lender said its bottom-line group profits nearly trebled to £3.23 billion from £1.15 billion a year earlier.
It also posted a 4% rise in underlying pre-tax profits to £6.4 billion for its core business - Barclays UK and Barclays International.
Mr Staley, who has been selling down and offloading unwanted businesses to focus on US and UK operations, said the group had "accomplished a lot in a year".
"We are now just months away from completing the restructuring of Barclays, and I am more optimistic than ever for our prospects in 2017, and beyond," he added.
Profits for the year were helped by a revenue boost from Barclays' investment banking operations, which saw income lift 6% to £10.5 billion thanks to buoyant bond trading and foreign exchange rates.
It also saw lower costs for payment protection insurance (PPI) compensation, at £1 billion in 2016 compared to £2.8 billion the previous year.
The group said it planned to close its so-called non-core bank on June 30, six months earlier than expected.
Mr Staley has been leading a widespread restructuring for the past year, offloading businesses from France to Egypt and moving to sell off its 62% stake in Barclays Africa.
Barclays chairman John McFarlane said it was a "pivotal year" for the bank.
Barclays also today reported a surprise increase in its core capital ratio, as it took advantage of its rising profits to put money aside for expected demands on its cash from legal issues and worsening global market conditions.
The UK bank's capital ratio, a key measure of financial strength, rose to 12.4% compared to analysts' expectations that it would only reach 11.8%.
Barclays said the capital boost came from increased profits as the group nears the end of a major restructuring.
Barclays faces a suit by the US Department of Justice on civil charges of fraud in the sale of mortgage-backed securities during the run-up to the 2008-09 financial crisis.
The bank is so far alone among major banks in choosing to contest its case where rivals have settled.
In its annual report published alongside the results, the bank revealed Mr Staley was awarded a £4.23 billion pay package for 2016.
The annual report also showed that the bank's total bonus pool edged down to £1.53 billion from £1.54 billion in 2015.
Mr Staley's pay included a £1.2m salary, £1.32m in annual bonus and £1.15m in role-based pay, which was introduced to sidestep the EU bonus cap.
The bank said he was also awarded a potential £2.82m of deferred shares under a long-term incentive plan.
The group said it would "lighten" a hiring freeze put in place last year, which saw the workforce reduce by 15,000.
Mr Staley reiterated that the group had no plans to move staff to Europe as a result of Brexit and said it would be able to use its bases in Germany and Ireland as subsidiaries once the UK pulls out of the EU.
Today's results showed that Barclays' investment bank was a star performer, with profits rising 14% to £2.65 billion.
Its Barclays UK retail bank also performed well as it was helped by sharply lower PPI costs, with pre-tax profits rising by £1.15 billion to £1.74 billion.
The group said loans to UK customers remained stable at £166.4 billion.
Mr Staley said the UK economy was proving resilient to Brexit uncertainty so far and echoed comments from UK banking that he believes London will "remain the financial centre that it is today".
On the possibility of rising interest rates in the US, he said it would be "very good for the banks" and added that he had "a lot of confidence in the Bank of England" to set rates depending on economic performance on this side of the Atlantic.
