Barclays announced its plan to cut around 5,000 jobs by the end of 2026. The reason stated was the company’s plans to lower its costs and make the work process faster. According to reports, the cut will affect around 5% of the global workforce of the company.
About 60% of the cuts are expected to affect support functions, including developers. The bank had around 93,000 employees at the end of 2025. It has already cut 1,000 jobs in the first half of 2026 and plans to remove another 4,000 by December.
The cuts are part of a wider plan to make the bank's work simpler and reduce costs. Barclays is also using AI to help staff finish some tasks faster. The bank has spent years building its tech systems, which now help it handle more work with fewer steps. Recently, the institution has declared that it made 2.3bn pounds profit in the last three months, which was significantly higher than the same time of last year, but a little lower than expectations.
The chief executive, CS Venkatakrishnan of Barclays, has revealed that these layoffs are part of the significant investment it is making in technology to simplify and improve its business. However, AI cannot handle every case on its own. Some tasks need human judgment, especially when money is at risk, or a customer has a serious problem.
Also Read: eBay Layoffs: 9% Workforce Reduction Planned Amid Business Restructuring
Can Banks Protect Customers With Fewer Staff?
The rapid job cuts in the banking sector raise a significant question: how banks will deal with fraud reports, complaints, and checks that need human judgment. AI tools can flag risks, but whether that’s a real one or not needs human analysis. In a sector like banking, missing a warning or making the wrong call may cause monetary losses to customers.
Barclays’ plan highlights the way AI is changing banking jobs. However, where customer safety comes first, AI can’t handle things. So, the real test will be whether Barclays can cut costs while keeping its services safe, fair, and reliable.