Ahead of the publication of its full year results on 12 February, Barclays has revealed that it will make additional provisions relating to Interest Rate Hedging Products (IRHP) and Payment Protection Insurance (PPI).
Following the outcome of its pilot review of IRHP sold to small and medium-sized enterprises, and the Financial Services Authority’s report on this review and those conducted by a number of other banks, Barclays has increased its provision for IRHP redress by £400m at Q4 2012.
This brings the cumulative provision to £850m, of which £36m had been utilised as at 31 December 2012. The main review and redress exercise will commence shortly and the appropriate provision level will be kept under ongoing review as it progresses.
Barclays has determined that it is appropriate to provide a further £600m for PPI redress, principally as a result of a higher than anticipated response rate to pro-active mailings in Q4. This brings the cumulative provision to £2.6bn, of which £1.6bn had been utilised as at 31 December 2012. Based on claims experience to date and anticipated future volumes, the provision represents Barclays best estimate of expected future PPI redress payments and claims management costs.
Barclays says will continue to monitor actual claims volumes and the assumptions underlying the calculation of the PPI provision.
