UK's Barclays to cut 5,000 jobs by year's-end in cost-saving drive

By Mucahithan Avcioglu

ISTANBUL (AA) - British banking giant Barclays plans to cut around 5,000 jobs by the end of this year, equivalent to about 5% of its workforce, as it uses technology to reduce costs and improve profitability.

Chief Financial Officer Anna Cross told reporters during the bank's third-quarter results briefing Thursday that 1,000 positions had already been eliminated, with another 4,000 cuts planned before year’s-end.

The reductions form part of a broader effort to streamline operations through investments in technology, including artificial intelligence.

Barclays reported pretax profit of £2.3 billion ($3.1 billion) for July-September, up 12% from a year earlier.

Chief Executive C.S. Venkatakrishnan announced an additional £500 million share buyback, bringing total shareholder distributions through buybacks and dividends announced since the start of the year to £2.8 billion.

He said the bank's cost-to-income ratio had improved to 62% from 63% over the past three months.

The results come ahead of next week's British government budget, with expectations of higher taxes on banks weighing on the sector.

Mücahithan Avcıoğlu