Barclays cuts 5,000 jobs, about 5% of staff, with developers among those hit as AI lifts productivity

What's the deal? Barclays is cutting about 5,000 full-time jobs this year, around 5% of its workforce, the bank said with its third-quarter results on 22 October. About 1,000 roles have already gone and the rest are due to go by the end of the year, CFO Anna Cross told reporters, Reuters reported.

Who's affected: Around 60% of the cuts fall in support functions, "including fewer developers as AI makes our people more productive", CEO C.S. Venkatakrishnan said on the results call. The BBC reports that a significant share of the cuts is expected in India, where some UK back-office work is done.

The numbers: Pre-tax profit rose 12% to £2.3 billion and income rose 3% to £7.4 billion. Reuters said profit undershot analysts' forecasts as fixed-income trading underperformed, and CNBC said income came in below the £7.61 billion analysts expected. Barclays took £201 million of restructuring charges in the third quarter, plans about £300 million more in the fourth, and expects more than £1.1 billion of gross efficiency savings in 2027.

The caveat: Barclays does not put it all down to AI. "AI is the icing on the cake, not the cake," Venkatakrishnan said, pointing to the infrastructure and data work that has to come first.

The signal: It is one of the clearest statements yet from a big European bank that AI is shrinking headcount in roles such as software development, not only in call centres. "Banks have spent heavily on technology for years, but we are increasingly reaching the point where that investment translates into fewer people being required to run the business," Quilter Cheviot analyst Will Howlett told the BBC.

Sources: Barclays Q3 2026 results, Reuters, BBC, CNBC, Financial Times

Photo: BBC News