Barclays to cut 5,000 jobs as AI drives cost-cutting push

Barclays (BCS) plans to cut 5,000 jobs, or about 5% of its workforce, as part of a technology-enabled cost-cutting drive amid wider adoption of artificial intelligence across the bank.

About 1,000 jobs were eliminated in the first half of 2026, with the remaining cuts expected by year-end. Roughly 60% will affect support functions, including developers. Barclays employed about 93,000 people globally at the end of 2025.

The announcement came as Barclays reported third-quarter earnings that missed several key estimates. Fixed-income and currency (FICC) trading revenue fell 19% year over year to £1.01B ($1.4B), missing expectations, while equities revenue jumped 47% to nearly match fixed income, marking its strongest performance since at least 2009.

The bank attributed the FICC decline to lower client activity in rates and credit, as well as “further adversity in September due to the macroeconomic environment.” Chief Executive Officer CS Venkatakrishnan called the performance “somewhat disappointing.”

“We will employ AI at scale,” Venkatakrishnan said. “But AI is the icing on the cake, not the cake.”

Barclays said it was “structurally reducing” costs to “generate capacity for investment,” with a focus on simplifying operations and improving efficiency. The bank cut £201M in costs in the third quarter and plans to reduce a further £300M in the final quarter.

Barclays maintained its longer-term targets and announced a £500M share buyback. “With one quarter to go before the end of our original three-year plan, we have either achieved or are on track to achieve all of our 2026 group targets. We are confident in and committed to the 2028 targets that we laid out earlier in the year,” Venkatakrishnan said.