Barclays said on Tuesday that rising personal insolvencies in the UK had continued to push up bad debt charges at Barclaycard, its credit card operation, at the same rate as in the first half.

The UK’s third largest bank said it expected pre-tax profits for 2006 in line with analysts’ forecasts of £6.99bn, as strong growth in Barclays Capital, its investment bank, offset weaker parts of the bank. Last year Barclays reported pre-tax profits of £5.28bn.