Barclays today said its investment bank unit made a £1.3 billion sterling writedown due to its exposure to credit market problems in the four months to the end of October.
Barclays Capital announced a writedown of £500 million for the July-September quarter and a further £800 million writedown for October. The writedown was less than many estimates of Barclays' exposure to problems.
Barclay Capital's net income and pretax profit for the 10 months to the end of October was ahead of a year before at £1.9 billion after writedowns, the bank said.
Shares in Britain's third-biggest bank have fallen 15 per cent in the last month on fears it faces big losses due to its exposure to a deepening credit market crunch, sparked by a US subprime mortgage crisis.
Last week it denied speculation it was about to announce a $10 billion writedown and that its top management would quit.
Rivals including Citigroup, Merrill Lynch and UBS have announced almost $50 billion of losses and writedowns in the past month after a meltdown in mortgage securities and troubles in the US mortgage backed collateralised debt obligations market.
