The UK bank delivered a ‘resilient’ second quarter of 2019 with good performance coming from the corporate & Investment bank, according to CEO Jes Staley (pictured), while in the USA – its main structured products market – sales volumes were at their highest levels in nine years.

For the second quarter in a row, Barclays generated a profit of over £1 billion (US$1.2 billion) and the bank delivered earnings per share of 12.6 pence for the first half of 2019.

Barclays was the most prolific issuer in the US in the second quarter of 2019, with a 16% share of the market, ahead of JP Morgan (11%) and Morgan Stanley (9%) according to SRP data.

The bank collected a combined US$2.27 billion from 563 registered notes during the period, up 55% in sales volume compared to the US$1.47 billion it accumulated from 383 products in the prior-year quarter, and also up 51% from 1Q2019, when it sold US$1.5 billion worth of structured notes (from 429 products).

In fact, this quarter’s sales where the highest registered on the SRP USA database since 2010 when the bank sold US$2.32 billion from 456 products in the third quarter.

Barclays products were sold through 16 different distributors, of which UBS Financial Services with sales of US$682m from 80 products was the most active, followed by Merrill Lynch (US$411m), and Morgan Stanley Wealth Management (US$402m). The bank’s products were also available via, among others, Citigroup, First Trust Portfolios, Incapital, Raymond James, Safra, and Stifel.

The majority of issuance in the US was linked to a basket of indices (318 products) with a further 191 structures tied to a single index. The latter included household names such as the S&P 500, Russell 2000 and Nasdaq 100, but the bank also implemented the Eurostoxx Banks, Swiss Market Index, and the proprietary Trailblazer Sectors 5 Index.

The best-selling product for the quarter was the Accelerated Return Note on the S&P 500, which was sold via Merrill Lynch and collected US$126m during the subscription period.

Outside the USA, the bank issued 16 products in Japan (US$143m), which were distributed via local securities firms; eight products in France (US$34m); and two products each in Austria, Germany and Switzerland.

The corporate & investment bank delivered a ‘robust’ performance in the second quarter. Fixed income, currencies, and commodities increased by two percent, driven by a strong performance in credit and growth in securitised products; equities decreased by 14%, versus a record 2Q2018.

Total assets increased by £40 billion, primarily driven by the flattening of the major interest rate curves, which resulted in a similar increase in both derivative assets and liabilities.

Liabilities in Barclays’ condensed consolidated balance sheet included £90.8 billion debt securities in issue and £243.1 billion worth of derivative financial instruments, as of June 30 2019, up 10.4% and 10.7%, respectively, from end-December 2018.

Click the link to view the second quarter 2019 presentation and the interim results announcement.