Barclays has seen its profits for the first nine months of the year fall by almost one-fifth after it was hit by £6.2bn of charges to cover bad debts. The bank's pre-tax profit for the nine months to the end of September totalled £4.542bn, down 19% from last year. Rival HSBC said its pre-tax profits for the nine months were "ahead" of a year ago, although it did not release a profit figure. HSBC said it was benefiting from its wide global reach and cost cutting. The results from Barclays and trading update from HSBC come after rival Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) last week reported a pre-tax loss of £2.2bn for the three months to 30 September. Unlike RBS, neither Barclays nor HSBC have needed direct government support. UK woes Although Barclays' profits for the nine months fell, its revenues were up 26% from a year earlier to £23.8bn. During the three quarters, the bank saw a marked difference in performance between its UK and overseas operations. While its global commercial and retail banking units saw profits rise 11% over the nine months, profits at its UK retail business "decreased significantly". When Barclays' bad debt provisions and other one-off factors are pulled out, pre-tax profits before exceptional items totalled £4.4bn for the nine months, more than double a year earlier. Barclays chief executive John Varley said the results showed "the resilience and diversification" of the bank's portfolio of businesses. The bank's pre-tax profit for the three months to 30 September was down 45% to £1.56bn. Shares in Barclays were down 2.5%, or 8.4 pence, at 334p in early trading. Source: BBC