(by Peter Van Bruggen)

Barclays has an option to lift its pre-tax profit in the UK banking operations up to £350 million to £700 million within the next three years, the company announced.

The increase will mainly be reached by cutting costs and lifting revenue, Barclays said in a statement. "The opportunity to grow revenue is significant. Getting customer service right is a major drive. Satisfied customers undoubtedly buy more," said Roger Davis, chief executive of UK banking of the company. The Barclays’ retail bank will improve its customer service to make revenue higher, the company stresses.

The UK banking division, which was created some 8 months ago, has 15 million customers and 51% of the company’s £3.84 billion annual pre-tax profit.

As for the possibility to face a new rival in the UK through the Santander Central Hispano within the purchase of Abbey National, Mr. Davis says he is quite calm over the issue. "I’m never complacent about any of our competitors. We have some very good competitors already and I’m not particularly concerned about one more," he said.