{"id":3124,"date":"2026-10-22T16:03:47","date_gmt":"2026-10-22T11:03:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=3124"},"modified":"2026-10-22T16:03:47","modified_gmt":"2026-10-22T11:03:47","slug":"barclays-to-slash-5000-jobs-in-ai-powered-cost-cutting-drive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=3124","title":{"rendered":"Barclays to slash 5,000 jobs in AI-powered cost-cutting drive"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Barclays said it is cutting \u200baround 5,000 jobs or 5% of its workforce this year, as it uses technology such as AI to slash \u200cfixed costs and improve returns.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The job cuts were revealed as Barclays reported third-quarter profit of \u00a32.3 billion ($3.08 billion), up 12% from a year ago but undershooting analysts\u2019 forecasts as its fixed income trading business underperformed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am disappointed, and you can be sure this will get my attention,\u201d CEO C.S. Venkatakrishnan said about the bank\u2019s traditional \u200bstrength in fixed income trading, blaming a volatile quarter and weak trading in rates and credit products in particular.<\/p>\n

The bank \u200bsaid it had taken a further \u00a3201 million in \u201cstructural cost actions\u201d in the third quarter, part of its longer-term \u2060plan to reduce expenses like staff costs through greater use of technology.<\/p>\n

Around 60% of the overall job cuts will impact staff in support \u200bfunctions such as developers, CFO Anna Cross told reporters, in one of the clearest signs yet from a big bank of how AI \u200bis enabling firms to reduce headcount in such roles.<\/p>\n

Cross said 1,000 roles have already gone, with the remainder to be cut by the end of the year.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe cuts illustrate just how significantly AI and automation could reshape the banking industry over the next few years,\u201d said Will Howlett, financials analyst at fund management \u200bbusiness Quilter Cheviot.<\/p>\n

Companies worldwide including tech giant Microsoft<\/a>,<\/a> and HSBC have announced layoffs this year, as automation increasingly impacts employment.<\/p>\n

Barclays shares slipped 0.1%, \u200boutperforming other lenders. The bank\u2019s shares have fallen 12% so far this year, in line with European peers which have sold off after years of rallying \u200cas higher \u2060interest rates lifted profits.<\/p>\n

Shore Capital said in a note that the results were weaker than expected due to the disappointing performance by the investment bank.<\/p>\n

<\/a>Budget looms<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Barclays is the first major European lender to report its quarterly earnings, with British banks\u2019 results likely to be overshadowed by finance minister John Healey\u2019s first budget on October 28, where further taxes on banks may be levied.<\/p>\n

Healey has refused to rule out hiking taxes on \u200bbanks\u2019 bumper profits despite intensive public \u200band private lobbying by the \u2060industry in recent months, as the finance minister mulls higher taxes to help fund the Labour government\u2019s policy agenda and as higher borrowing costs eat into the public purse.<\/p>\n

Banks have argued they are already highly \u200btaxed compared with other jurisdictions and that any such levy would curb lending.<\/p>\n

<\/a>Investment bank\u2019s mixed quarter<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Barclays\u2019 \u200binvestment bank reported total \u2060income in the third quarter of \u00a33.1 billion, lower than forecasts for \u00a33.3 billion.<\/p>\n

Third-quarter earnings from Barclays\u2019 Wall Street rivals earlier this month showed the cyclical nature of investment bank revenue, as dealmaking slowed and fixed income desks underperformed<\/a>, with only equities trading sustaining the strong momentum seen in the first half \u2060of the \u200byear.<\/p>\n

Barclays\u2019 equities revenue rose 47%, outperforming the average 37% gain across the top five \u200bUS players according to a Reuters calculation from company statements.<\/p>\n

The British lender, however, saw income from fixed income trading slide 19% to \u00a31 billion, weaker than a 5% drop \u200bamong its US peers and worse than analysts\u2019 forecasts for \u00a31.3 billion.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Barclays said it is cutting \u200baround 5,000 jobs or 5% of its workforce this year, as it uses technology such as AI to slash \u200cfixed costs and improve returns. The job cuts were revealed as Barclays reported third-quarter profit of \u00a32.3 billion ($3.08 billion), up 12% from a year ago but undershooting analysts\u2019 forecasts as its fixed income trading business underperformed. \u201cI am disappointed, and you can be sure this will get my attention,\u201d CEO C.S. Venkatakrishnan said about the bank\u2019s traditional \u200bstrength in fixed income trading, blaming a volatile…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3124","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english"],"gutentor_comment":0,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3124","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3124"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3124\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3124"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3124"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3124"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}