Barclays to Cut 5,000 Jobs, About 5 Percent of Staff, in AI Efficiency Push
The London-listed bank said about 60 percent of the cuts will fall on support functions including developers as it turns to AI to lower costs, even as third-quarter pretax profit rose 12 percent to 2.3 billion pounds.
Barclays plans to cut 5,000 jobs, about 5 percent of its workforce, as the bank leans on artificial intelligence to streamline operations, the company said in its third-quarter earnings statement on Thursday.
About 60 percent of the cuts are expected to fall in support functions, including developers, with the bank expecting to need fewer developer roles going forward, according to CNBC’s report on the announcement.
Barclays said it was “structurally reducing the cost base to generate capacity for investment.” Its earnings presentation cited “organisational simplification and technology change efficiency driven by AI” as the driver.
Profit up, shares down
The cuts come even as the bank’s results held up. Third-quarter pretax profit rose 12 percent from a year earlier to 2.3 billion pounds ($3.1 billion), matching forecasts compiled by LSEG, while group income reached 7.4 billion pounds against analysts’ expectations of 7.61 billion pounds. Net interest income was broadly unchanged at 3.91 billion pounds.
Other measures were softer: the CET1 capital ratio edged down to 14.2 percent from 14.3 percent at the end of the second quarter, and return on tangible equity fell to 11.7 percent from 16.1 percent. Shares were almost 1 percent lower by 8:50 a.m. in London, less than an hour into the trading day.
An industry-wide shift
The move fits a wider pattern across banking. Standard Chartered recently said 7,000 roles will go over the next four years as it adopts more AI, according to a BBC report, and Barclays chief executive CS Venkatakrishnan has said the bank is adopting “AI at scale” to cut costs and improve efficiency.
Reporting based on coverage by CNBC and the BBC.
