Comment from Sudeepto Mukherjee, Senior Vice President, Financial Services at consultancy Publicis Sapient:

Barclays followed a good Q4 2020 with a strong performance for Q1 2021 with an increased profit (before tax) of £2.4bn – a 166% increase for Q1 yoy. This is largely thanks to their robust business model and strong CIB performance.  However, their consumer business still faces the headwinds of the Covid-19 pandemic which will likely continue throughout 2021. Their core retail products in mortgages and cards are fiercely competitive and will require an aggressive strategy to grow market share. The target of achieving a 10+% ROTE overtime from a 2020 baseline at 3.2% will need significant effort in moving to a digital first model to both drive down cost but also serve customers in their preferred channels of interaction. The expansion of the Amazon point of sale partnership shows the increasing trend of banks leveraging technology to create new and innovative “banking as a service” propositions for consumers and businesses.