UK-based banking giant Barclays is cutting around 5,000 jobs this year amid a wider push to drive efficiency savings and bring down costs. The cuts will represent around 5% of the bank's total workforce.
Reports state that Barclays has already reduced its headcount by 1,000 in 2026, with the remaining 4,000 cuts set to take place before the end of the year.
Announcing the planned headcount reduction in the bank's Q3 earnings presentation, Barclays CEO CS Venkatakrishnan said 60% of the cuts "relate to support functions, including fewer developers as AI makes our people more productive".
On the bank's deployment of AI, according to The Guardian, Venkatakrishnan said: “We have been focusing on the infrastructure build, and where the infrastructure is modern, we’ve been applying AI.”
In the presentation, he added: "And we will employ AI at scale: but AI is the icing on the cake, not the cake."
The job cuts come as the bank aims to boost its gross efficiency savings to £1.1 billion in 2027.
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Elsewhere, earlier this year, Standard Chartered revealed that it is planning to cut around 15% of its corporate functions roles by 2030 as the bank accelerates its integration of AI.
About the Author
Reporter, FinTech Futures
Francis Bignell is a reporter at FinTech Futures with a keen interest in all things fintech, especially in the Latin America region. Writing in the industry for four years, he has moderated webinars and podcasts as well as interviewed executives from a wide range of sectors.