LONDON: British bank Barclays on Thursday announced a 38-percent slump in net profit for 2020 and said expenses related to the coronavirus pandemic were set to stay high this year.

Profit after tax fell to £1.53 billion ($2.12 billion, 1.76 billion euros), Barclays said in a statement. Group credit impairment charges shot up to £4.8 billion from £1.9 billion owing “to the deterioration in the economic outlook driven by the Covid-19 pandemic”, the bank said.

Despite the tough year, “Barclays remains well capitalised, well provisioned for impairments... with a strong balance sheet, and competitive market positions across the group”, chief executive Jes Staley said in the statement. As well as offering a dividend to shareholders, Barclays said it would buy back shares at a cost of up to £700 million. The bonus pool for 2020 stood at around £1.6 billion, up six percent.