British banking group Barclays is reportedly laying off as many as 2,000 employees as part of a cost-cutting initiative aimed at saving up to £1bn.
The job cuts are likely to be undertaken primarily in the bank’s back office, reported Reuters, citing an undisclosed source familiar with the plans.
Barclays’ managers, under the leadership of chief executive CS Venkatakrishnan, are currently evaluating measures to enhance the bank’s profitability. If these proposals are fully implemented, it is anticipated that 1,500 to 2,000 jobs could be eliminated, according to the source.
The anticipated reductions are expected to focus primarily on Barclays Execution Services, internally referred to as ‘BX’. These cuts constitute a segment of the broader objective to trim expenses by up to £1bn across the group over a span of several years, as disclosed by the source to the news agency.
While Barclays has previously taken measures to reduce costs, including cutting bonuses and jobs in its retail and investment banking divisions, the specific efforts to downsize BX and the potential associated savings have not been previously reported.
Established in 2017 with the aim of streamlining support functions for Barclays’ two primary business divisions, UK retail banking and international operations, BX was created to eradicate redundancy and enforce post-crisis risk management regulations.
Barclays’ targeted cost savings of £1bn would account for approximately 7% of the bank’s underlying annual operating expenses of £15bn reported last year.
Discussions regarding the headcount in BX are currently underway, and the source told Reuters that Barclays might opt to prioritise workforce reductions in other areas.
In September this year, trade union Unite said that Barclays was planning to make more than 450 employees redundant.
For the third quarter ended 30 September 2023 (Q3 2023), the British lender reported profit after tax of £1.72bn, a 10% decline compared to the same quarter of the previous year.
