Mass job cuts announced at Barclays bank

The bank had already announced job losses of 10,000 to 12,000 across the group for this year, but another 2,000 will be made this year as result of changes to its investment banking division.

In total, Barclays will cut 7,000 jobs from its investment bank by 2016, around 2,000 of which will be in the UK. It brings the total number of cuts by 2016 to 19,000, with an estimated 10,000 being UK-based.

The strategy review will also see the bank hive off its European retail banking business into a so-called “bad bank”, comprising £115bn of “non-core” assets.

“This is a bold simplification of Barclays,” Chief Executive Officer Antony Jenkins said in a statement. “We will be a focused international bank, operating only in areas where we have capability, scale, competitive advantage.”

The bank had been under pressure from investors to overhaul investment bank, which this week posted a 49 per cent drop in pretax profit. This resulted in total profits at the group sliding by 5 per cent.

Barclays has become the worst-performing UK bank in the period, after falling 11 per cent this year in London trading.

Barclays announces Group Strategy Update http://t.co/RWCFcnCgO2

— Barclays Bank (@Barclays) May 8, 2014

This will include all its customer branches in Portugal, Spain, Italy and France as well as a chunk of its investment banking operation including fixed income, currencies and commodities (FICC), plus emerging markets products.

Mr Jenkins said: “In the future, Barclays will be leaner, stronger, much better balanced and well-positioned to deliver lower volatility, higher returns and growth.”