Barclays to cut 5,000 jobs in AI-led cost drive as Q3 profit rises 12%

Barclays said it is cutting around 5,000 jobs or 5 per cent of its workforce this year, as it uses technology such as artificial intelligence (AI) to slash fixed costs and improve returns.

The job cuts were revealed as Barclays reported third-quarter profit of £2.3 billion ($3.08 billion), up 12 per cent from a year ago but undershooting analysts’ forecasts as its fixed income trading business underperformed.

“I am disappointed, and you can be sure this will get my attention,” Chief Executive Officer C S Venkatakrishnan said about the bank’s traditional strength of fixed income trading, blaming a volatile quarter and weak trading in rates and credit products in particular.

The bank said it had taken a further £201 million in “structural cost actions” in the third quarter, part of its longer-term plan to reduce expenses like staff costs through greater use of technology.

Around 60 per cent of the overall job cuts will impact staff in support functions such as developers, CFO Anna Cross told reporters, in one of the clearest signs yet from a big bank of how AI is enabling firms to reduce headcount in such roles.

Cross said 1,000 roles have already gone, with the remainder to be cut by the end of the year.

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