Barclays' chief executive officer, Bob Diamond, described the underpinnings of the European economy as ‘very very strong' and said he is confident the euro region will survive.
The European debt crisis will not force the London-based bank to scrap its profitability target despite slow economic growth and a weak currency, Diamond told Bloomberg.
“The underpinnings of the single currency, the underpinnings of the integrated economy across Europe are very, very strong,” he said.
Diamond said the bank is seeing positive signs with all three of its biggest units posting improvements in the first quarter. It is focusing on the most profitable operations to help meet his return-on-equity target of 13%.
