By PYMNTS | October 22, 2026
Barclays plans to eliminate about 5,000 jobs this year as the British bank expands its use of artificial intelligence (AI) and technology to improve productivity and reduce costs, even as third-quarter profits rose.
The reductions represent about 5% of the bank’s workforce, Barclays said Thursday (Oct. 22). About 60% will affect support functions, including software development roles, as the lender restructures operations and invests in technology. The bank had already eliminated 1,000 positions in the first half of the year.
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Chief Executive C.S. Venkatakrishnan described AI as one element of a broader transformation. “We will employ the AI at scale but AI is the icing on the cake not the cake,” he said, according to the Financial Times.
Barclays spent 307 million pounds (about $412 million) on its restructuring during the first nine months of 2026 and expects to incur another 300 million pounds (about $402 million) in costs by year-end. The effort combines workforce reductions with technology investment and changes to the bank’s operating model.
The announcement came as Barclays reported third-quarter pretax profit of 2.3 billion pounds (about $3 billion), up 12% from a year earlier but below analysts’ expectations of 2.42 billion pounds (about $3.2 billion). Revenue increased 3% to 7.4 billion pounds (about $9.9 billion). Fixed-income trading income fell 19%, offsetting stronger performance in equities, where revenue rose 47% to 1 billion pounds (about $1.3 billion).
Barclays’ workforce plans follow a broader push to embed AI into its technology operations. As PYMNTS reported earlier this month, the bank expects half of its software developers to use Anthropic’s Claude Code by the end of 2026, with most developers expected to adopt the coding tool by the end of 2027. The expanded collaboration is intended to help modernize legacy systems, improve software quality and support cybersecurity, according to Anthropic and Barclays executives.
The bank has already deployed AI tools in other areas, including a knowledge assistant used by more than 16,000 Barclays UK employees and AI models that process 120,000 client emails daily in its Global Markets business, PYMNTS reported.