Barclays in £1.3bn credit crunch hit

BARCLAYS, the UK's third biggest bank, said its investment
bank unit made a £1.3bn writedown due to its exposure to
credit market problems in the four months to the end of
October.

In a surprise trading update this morning Barclays Capital
announced a writedown of £500m for the July-September quarter
and a further £800m writedown for October. The writedown was
less than many estimates of Barclays' exposure to problems.

Barclays Capital's net income and pre-tax profit for the 10
months to the end of October was ahead of a year before at
£1.9bn after writedowns, the bank said.