// definition
Cost-to-income ratio
Bank expenses relative to income
Short definition
A bank’s selected expenses divided by its income for the same period. Barclays calculates the ratio as total operating expenses divided by total income. Definitions and adjustments can vary between institutions. The ratio can decline when income grows faster than expenses, even while expenses rise.
risk atlas
Knowledge map
Intuition
A new expense and a change in income affect different sides of the same ratio.
Formula
cost-to-income ratio = selected expenses / selected income × 100Related analyses
Primary sources
- Barclays, third-quarter 2026 resultsPDF page 48, alternative performance measures: total operating expenses divided by total income.