Lawrence White and Iain Withers

LONDON, (Reuters) –Barclays announced a higher than anticipated 8% drop in its first quarter profits. However, the company put on hold plans to buy back shares while it talks with U.S regulators about a potential restatement for 2021 earnings.

Last month, the British bank revealed that it exceeded the U.S. sales limit for structured products. This led to an estimated loss of 450 million pounds ($563.22million) and regulatory scrutiny.

Barclays (LON) Previously the LON stated that the 1 Billion Pound Buyback would start in the 2nd Quarter, but this was changed after an error was made.

Wednesday’s bank profit before taxes for the March three-month period was 2.2 billion Pounds ($2.75 Billio). This figure is above the average analyst forecasted of 1.3 million Pounds and less than the 2.4 Billion pounds recorded in that same time last year.

($1 = 0.7988 pounds)

($1 = 0.7990 pounds)