Barclays to Cut 5,000 Jobs in AI Cost-Saving Drive — Update

By Michael Hennessey

Barclays said it is cutting 5,000 jobs to reduce costs as it adopts artificial intelligence at scale across the bank.

The cuts are equal to around 5% of the company's workforce, the bank said Thursday.

Barclays said it is focused on simplifying its organization, with technological efficiencies driven by AI. Chief Executive C.S. Venkatakrishnan said AI is the "icing on the cake" of investment in technology.

Around 1,000 of the job cuts occurred in the first half of 2026, with the remaining 4,000 taking place in the second half.

Banks are turning to AI to automate tasks and make their operations more efficient, prompting some to shrink their workforces. Germany's Commerzbank and Norway's DNB are among banks that have outlined plans to shed jobs and push AI further into their businesses this year.

But some of those moves have faced resistance. Standard Chartered CEO Bill Winters said in May that AI would allow the bank to replace "lower-value human capital." He later walked back his comments and apologized.

Barclays said it was structurally reducing costs to help make room for investments. Total cost cuts in the year-to-date have been roughly double the level of the last two years, Barclays Chief Financial Officer Anna Cross said on a media call.

The bank achieved structural cost reductions of 201 million pounds ($269.2 million) in the third quarter, with a further 300 million pounds planned for the fourth quarter, it said.

Barclays reported a lower-than-expected pretax profit for the third quarter as fixed-income earnings sank, overshadowing a stronger equities performance.

The bank said pretax profit for the quarter was 2.32 billion pounds, compared with 2.08 billion pounds for the comparable period a year earlier. This was below analysts' expectations of 2.42 billion pounds, according to consensus estimates provided by the company.

Net profit rose 13% to 1.65 billion pounds, compared with the consensus of 1.64 billion pounds.

Return on tangible equity--a closely watched profitability metric--for the quarter was 11.7%, up from 10.6% a year ago and ahead of consensus forecasts of 11.5%. However, it declined from 16.1% in the second quarter, with a 13.8% return in the year-to-date.

Total income was 7.37 billion pounds, compared with 7.17 billion pounds and a consensus of 7.62 billion pounds.

Fixed income, currencies and commodities income fell 19% to 1.01 billion pounds, mirroring a weaker performance for U.S. peers. However, equities income jumped 47% to 1.01 billion pounds.

On a media call, the CEO called the bank's performance in fixed income disappointing. The bank said the result was due to lower client activity in credit and rates as well as an unfavorable economic environment in September.

Barclays's investment bank reported an overall 1.5% rise in third-quarter income to 3.13 billion pounds.

The bank launched a share buyback program of 500 million pounds, below the company-compiled consensus of 579 million pounds, bringing year-to-date distributions to 2.8 billion pounds.

Barclays said it is on track to achieve all of its 2026 and 2028 targets. It expects a return on tangible equity greater than 12% for 2026, and above 14% in 2028.

Write to Michael Hennessey at michael.hennessey@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 22, 2026 05:12 ET (09:12 GMT)