LONDON: British bank Barclays on Thursday announced a jump in profits during the third quarter, extending its recovery; following the pandemic fallout.

Barclays said the net profit more than doubled to £1.45 billion ($2 billion, 1.7 billion euros) in the three months to the end of September, compared with a year ago.

The profit-after-tax for the first nine months stood at £5.25 billion, while the pre-tax level of £6.9 billion was a record for the group.

Barclays Bank chief executive James Staley said that the group was “seeing evidence of a consumer recovery and the early signs of a more favourable rate environment”.

The banks in the UK have started to raise interest rates on their home loans, as the Bank of England prepares to increase its main borrowing cost to tackle high inflation.

Barclays said that “although the macroeconomic outlook has improved, the level of uncertainty is relatively high”.

It pointed to high unemployment, “with a significant number of jobs at risk of redundancy”, as the UK, the US and Germany begin to withdraw financial support measures put in place during the coronavirus outbreak.

“To-date, limited defaults have been observed in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, but credit deterioration may occur as support is withdrawn,” Barclays said.