Barclays on Wednesday reported a 19% rise in first-quarter profit, better than expected, as frenetic trading activity in the first three months of the year boosted investment banking revenue and trading fees.

The bank reported a first-quarter pre-tax profit of 2.7 billion pounds ($3.62 billion), up from 2.3 billion pounds a year earlier and above the 2.5 billion pounds forecast by analysts polled by LSEG.

Barclays' investment banking revenue rose 16% to 3.9 billion pounds in the first quarter from a year earlier, above analysts' forecast of 3.5 billion pounds. This was mainly due to a 21% increase in fixed income trading revenue, a 9% increase in equity trading revenue, and a 4% increase in investment banking fees from mergers and acquisitions and corporate finance advisory business.

Barclays reiterated its performance targets for the year despite the uncertain outlook for global economic growth since U.S. President Trump announced plans for comprehensive tariffs on April 2.

The bank even raised its 2025 profit forecast to more than 12.5 billion pounds from a previous estimate of 12.2 billion pounds, driven mainly by expected growth in its domestic lending division.