Barclays Bank, based in London’s Canary Wharf (pictured above), amassed a £1.7bn ($2.7bn) one-off tax pool after its overall profits jumped to £3.9bn ($6.2bn) in the first half of 2010, up 44% from the first half of 2009, the bank reported Thursday. Excluding movements on own credit, gains on acquisitions and gains on debt buy-backs, Barclays’ profit before tax increased by 22% to £2.96bn from £2.43bn in H109. Income increased 8% to £16.6bn from £15.3bn while Barclays Capital reported a total income increase of 30% to £7.91bn. Barclays said that profit increase in the first half of 2010 is a reflection of a substantial reduction in losses in fields relating to credit market exposures, which fell to £65m from £3.51bn in the same period of 2009. The company also saw gain relating to its own credit with an increase to £851m ($1.35bn) in H110 from a loss of £893m ($1.4bn) in H109. Impairment charges across the bank against loans and advances, available for sale assets and reverse repurchase agreements improved to £3.08bn, up 32% from £4.56bn a year ago. this was achieved in spite of £433m in impairment on the Barclays Corporate loan book in Spain. Net income for Barclays after impairment charges increased 25% to £13.5bn from £10,762m with a particularly strong increase at Barclays Capital of 80% to £7.6bn from £4.22bn in 2009. Because of this, Barclays cost:net income ratio improved from 75% to 72%, with operating expenses up £1.67bn to £9.7bn, a 21% increase compared to the 25% increase in net income. Returns on average shareholders’ equity of 9.8%, compared with 9.4% in 2009, on average tangible shareholders’ equity of 12.0% compared with 13.0% in 2009 and on average risk weighted assets of 1.5% compared with 1.0%in 2009. Any expenses or income from the sale of HomeEq Servicing will likely be reported in the last half of 2010 as that is when the deal is expected to close. Write to Christine Ricciardi. The author holds no relevant investments.