Barclays boss John McFarlane signalled plans to ramp up growth, squeeze costs and streamline the business after announcing a 25% rise in first half profits.
Interim results showing an increase in pre-tax earnings to £3.11 billioncome just three weeks after chief executive Antony Jenkins was fired over lacklustre revenue growth.
New chairman Mr McFarlane has taken the reins on an interim basis.
The rise comes despite Barclays taking a hit of more than £1 billion during the period to compensate customers over scandals such as payment protection insurance (PPI) mis-selling.
This included a fresh £850 million in the second quarter, mainly from an extra £600 million for PPI – taking total provisions for the affair to date to just under £6 billion.
Reports have suggested Barclays is planning to speed up its cost-cutting drive by axing more than 30,000 jobs.
Mr McFarlane acknowledged that the lender needed to "accelerate growth in earnings" and slash its ratio of costs to income, though he declined to issue new targets for the group.
He said he wanted to instil a "high performance ethic" and "streamline and eliminate unnecessary and cumbersome bureaucracy".
"There is a lot we can do to accelerate our progress and the work has already begun," said Mr McFarlane.