London - Barclays, Britain's second-biggest bank, has emerged stronger from the financial crisis than its nationalized rivals despite a fall in profit, company results released Tuesday showed.

Pre-tax profit in third-quarter declined by around 45 per cent to 1.56 billion pounds (2.6 billion dollars). Profit during the same quarter last year stood at 2.8 billion pounds. By contrast, the nationalized Royal Bank of Scotland last week reported a quarterly loss of 2.2 billion pounds.

Barclays' gains were most notable in its investment banking business. Overall, pre-tax profits fell by 19 per cent to 4.5 billion pounds in the first nine months of the year.

Unlike its rivals, Barclays did not receive a government bail-out and turned to investors at the height of the global financial crisis. (dpa)