HSBC and Barclays provided stark evidence that the UK’s banks have polarised between successful commercial operators and struggling part-nationalised ones, as the country’s two biggest banks reported robust third-quarter results.

Michael Geoghegan, HSBC’s chief executive, said “two very different types of banks [are emerging] from this crisis – the winners and the losers”. John Varley, Barclays’ chief, stressed the group’s “consistent profitability across the first three quarters of 2009, [showing] the resilience and diversification of our portfolio of businesses”.

HSBC published no detailed group figures but said third-quarter pre-tax profits would be “significantly ahead” of last year. Barclays reported pretax profits of £1.6bn, virtually unchanged from the second quarter, and resumed paying a dividend for the first time in nearly a year.

The results strike a sharply different note from the third-quarter numbers published last week by Royal Bank of Scotland, the lossmaking lender in which the UK government has a 70 per cent stake, and Lloyds Banking Group, which is 43 per cent state-owned.

RBS reported a £2.2bn pre-tax loss for the period. Lloyds issued no details of its performance, but repeated previous guidance that it expected a pretax loss for the full year. It also announced yesterday it would shed a further 5,000 jobs in 2010, on top of 10,000 cut this year.

Hank Calenti, credit analyst at RBC in London, said: “HSBC and Barclays are clearly in a different camp. These were encouraging results. Both banks are paying dividends. And both have shown they have managed their credit portfolios well so impairments are tailing off.”

HSBC’s performance reflects the growing strength of its investment banking operations and its focus on developing markets, following a retreat from its disastrous expansion into US subprime mortgages. “It’s almost as if the less British you are, the better the results,” said Mr Calenti.

Barclays’ figures – particularly its one-third quarter-on-quarter fall in investment banking revenues – divided commentators, but many remained positive. “These numbers remind us that Barclays is not a one-trick pony. It remains our favourite UK bank,” wrote analysts at Credit Suisse.

Both banks provided further proof that loan losses may be on a downward trajectory.

Its results cement HSBC’s position as Britain’s leading bank, with a market capitalisation of £120bn, more than three times its nearest rival, Barclays.

HSBC’s shares jumped 4 per cent to 720p. But Barclays’ stock closed 5 per cent off at 325.35p.