Barclays to cut around 5,000 jobs as it expands AI use

The bank said 1,000 posts had already been closed and it expects a further 4,000 to go by the end of this year. It described the move as part of an ongoing modernisation plan rather than a simple one-to-one substitution of software for staff, though that will be cold comfort in the parts of the business being told efficiency now requires fewer people.

Chief executive CS Venkatakrishnan put it in corporate terms that were almost too neat. AI, he said, is “the icing on the cake” rather than the cake itself. “Because you need to do the infrastructure build to get the benefits of AI.” That sounds plausible enough as strategy. It also describes a workplace where the expensive groundwork has been laid and the savings are now being extracted.

Barclays said around 60% of the cuts will fall within support functions, including among developers. The cost reductions are focused on its UK retail bank, according to the BBC, though some back-office functions for the UK are done in India, where a significant proportion of the job cuts are expected to fall.

Not all of the cuts are being attributed to AI. Barclays said the changes were the result of significant investment in technology to simplify and improve the business, with AI playing an important and potentially larger role over time. Even so, the direction is hard to miss: banks have spent heavily on systems for years, and are increasingly ready to say those systems mean fewer people are needed.

Barclays also said it made £2.3bn profit in the three months to September, higher than the same period a year earlier but slightly below forecast. It expects its efficiency measures to deliver a further £1.1bn of savings in 2027.