Shares in the bank are up by around 60 percent today, on a confident new forecast that no government bailouts will be needed.
Banking shares have enjoyed a strong morning's trading, with the release of a confidence-boosting open letter from bosses at Barclays.
According to chief executive John Varley and chairman Marcus Agius, the bank has "sufficient" capital resources to avoid needing a bailout from the government. The letter also claimed that the bank's pre-tax profits for 2008 were "significant" and that the declaration of this income would be brought forward to February 9th.
Boosts in revenue, partly from Barclays' acquisition of assets from Lehman Brothers following the US investment house's failure last October, were also said to have absorbed £5 billion worth of net asset write-downs caused by the credit crunch and economic downturn.
"These figures demonstrate that although we have been heavily impacted by the credit crunch, our income generation was at a record level in 2008 and has enabled us to withstand this impact and still produce strong profits," Mr Varley and Mr Agius wrote.
"We are well funded and we are profitable."
Investors responded positively to the news, with Barclays shares up almost 60 percent on the day by 12:30 GMT. Shares in the Lloyds Group and RBS also advanced by around 20 percent.
