Financeupdated 1h ago2 min read
Barclays Cuts 5,000 Jobs as CS Venkatakrishnan Accelerates AI Adoption
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Barclays plans to cut around 5,000 jobs by end-2026, about 5% of global workforce. Approximately 60% of cuts will affect support functions, including developers.
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Barclays cuts 5,000
Barclays announced it will eliminate 5,000 jobs, about 5% of its workforce, as it accelerates its adoption of artificial intelligence into its work processes. Barclays said 1,000 posts had already been closed and it expects a further reduction of 4,000 to be complete by the end of this year, with the cost reductions focused on its UK retail bank.
Barclays said the changes were driven by an ongoing modernisation plan, and its chief executive CS Venkatakrishnan said, "We will employ the AI at scale," while also describing AI as "the icing on the cake not the cake." Barclays said around 60% of the job cuts will fall within its support functions, including among developers, and it expects its efficiency measures to deliver a further £1.1bn of savings in 2027.
Where the cuts land
Barclays said the job cuts are focused on its UK retail bank, while some back office functions for the UK are done in India, where a significant proportion of the job cuts are expected to fall. Barclays said the cuts amount to about 5% of its global workforce, which was around 93,000 employees at the end of 2025, and it framed the initiative as "structurally reducing" costs to "free up investment capacity."
Barclays said its cost reductions are part of a three-year cost-cutting programme focused primarily on its UK retail banking arm, and it also said the investment banking division is affected. Barclays reported £2.3bn profit in the three months to September, higher than the same period a year ago, while it also said it expects efficiency measures to deliver a further £1.1bn of savings in 2027.
Profit, savings, and fallout
Barclays said it expects to deliver further savings of £1.1bn in 2027, and it linked the restructuring to technology investment aimed at simplifying and improving its business. Barclays’ group finance director Anna Cross said the layoffs come as "AI makes our people more productive," and she said Barclays UK had taken more structural cost actions than planned in '26.
Barclays said it delivered around £200 million in "structural cost actions" during the third quarter as part of approximately £600 million achieved throughout the year, and it said it has approximately £300 million worth of additional savings earmarked for the final three months of the year. Barclays reported pre-tax profit of £2.3 billion for the quarter ended September, up 12%, while it also said shares were almost 1% lower by 8:50 a.m. in London as the plan was announced.
