Barclays Plans To Cut $1.25 Bln Costs, Up To 2,000 Jobs

(RTTNews) - British banking major Barclays Plc. is planning to cut costs by as much as 1 billion pounds or $1.25 billion over several years through various measures including up to 2,000 job cuts, Reuters reported citing people with knowledge of the matter. The planned job cuts mainly would be in the British bank's back office.

The proposed move likely reflects the bank's aim to bolster its profitability, which was down in its latest third quarter. Chief Executive C.S. Venkatakrishnan, along with managers at Barclays are reviewing proposals for cost savings.

As per the report, the potential cuts would primarily be at Barclays Execution Services, called BX, which was created in 2017 with a view to eliminate duplication and implement post-crisis risk management rules. It was formed to consolidate support functions for the bank's two main business divisions, UK retail banking and international.

It was reported that BX's annual staff costs grew to 2 billion pounds from 1.8 billion pounds, and its headcount rose to about 22,300 as of the end of 2022 from 20,000 at 2017 end. BX now accounts for more than a quarter of Barclays staff.

While announcing weak profit in its third quarter in October amidst a fall in income from the UK and net interest income, Venkatakrishnan had stated that the company was evaluating actions to reduce structural costs to help drive future returns, which may result in material additional charges in the fourth quarter.

In recent years, the bank had taken efforts to reduce expenses by reducing bonuses, as well as jobs in its retail and investment banking businesses.

In September, Unite, the British workers union that represents workers at Barclays, said that the bank was cutting around 450 staff amid a cost-of-living crisis.