Barclays PLC (NYSE:BCS) Q2 2024 Earnings Conference Call August 1, 2024 4:30 AM ET
Company Participants
C.S. Venkatakrishnan - Group Chief Executive
Anna Cross - Group Finance Director
Conference Call Participants
Alvaro Serrano - Morgan Stanley
Joseph Dickerson - Jefferies
Benjamin Toms - RBC
Guy Stebbings - BNP Paribas
Amit Goel - Mediobanca
Edward Firth - Stifel
Chris Cant - Autonomous
Robin Down - HSBC
Andrew Coombs - CitiGroup
Operator
Welcome to Barclays Half Year 2024 Results Analyst and Investor Conference Call. I will now hand you over to C.S. Venkatakrishnan, Group Chief Executive, before I hand over to Anna Cross, Group Finance Director.
C.S. Venkatakrishnan
Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining Barclays' second quarter 2024 results call. At our investor update in February, we set out a three-year plan to deliver a better run, more strongly performing, and higher returning Barclays. We are continuing to execute in a disciplined way against this plan, and this is our second progress report.
Our second quarter and first half performance keeps pace with our 2024 and 2026 financial targets, which are, first, grow returns with a target return on tangible equity of above 12% in 2026; second, distribute more capital to shareholders with a target of returning at least GBP10 billion between 2024 and 2026; and third, rebalance the bank with a target to reduce RWAs in the investment bank from 58% of Group RWAs at the end of 2023 to around 50% by 2026.
Return on tangible equity was 9.9% in the second quarter and 11.1% in the first half of the year, on track for our target of above 10% in 2024. Total income for the second quarter was GBP6.3 billion, and it was GBP13.3 billion for the first half.
And as you will hear from Anna, we continue to be focused on the quality and stability of our income mix. We are also increasing our net interest income guidance for 2024 from GBP10.7 billion to approximately GBP11 billion. We continue to control our costs trend and are seeing the benefit of the cost action, which we took in the fourth quarter of last year. Our cost-to-income ratio was 63% in the second quarter and 62% in the first half.
We continue to manage our credit carefully. Impairment charges have improved in the U.S. Consumer Bank in line with our expectations, and our overall credit performance is strong, particularly in BUK. We remain well capitalized. Our CET1 ratio was 13.6%, comfortably within our 13% to 14% target range. This has enabled us to announce the first installment in our plan to return at least £10 billion to shareholders by 2026. We have a total payout of GBP1.2 billion for the first half of 2024, including a GBP0.029 dividend per share and a GBP750 million buyback.