Barclays has posted a 24% rise in annual pretax profit to £8.1 billion from £6.6bn in the previous 12 months, slightly above expectations, as its investment bank reported strong performance for 2024.

It also benefited from slower than expected interest rate cuts which sustained income in its domestic lending business.

This was slightly above the £8.07 billion average of analysts’ forecasts.

Profit over the last three months of leapt to £1.7bn, against just £0.1bn a year earlier. Investment Banking income increased by 12%, which reflected higher fee income across products, partially offset by lower income in the International Corporate Bank.

The acquisition of certain assets of Tesco Bank generated an income gain of £556m as a result of consideration payable for the net assets being lower than fair value.

A proposed dividend of 8.4p compares with 8p last time.

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