Bank bosses’ optimism darkens as war follows on the heels of Covid

Dim outlook: the British banking sector is expecting less business and will be increasing provisions for defaults. Photograph: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

British banks that took 2021’s bumper profits as a sign of better things to come will be bracing themselves for disappointment this week.

With the Covid pandemic waning, 2022 was meant to mark the slow return to normal: a rebound in international travel, economic growth, and interest rates up from record lows. Barclays’s former boss Jes Staley was particularly optimistic last year, saying that “tremendous pent-up demand” would lead to a robust economic recovery that would “carry through into 2022”.