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British bank Barclays (NYSE:BCS) is anticipating significant job cuts, which could involve cutting as many as 2,000 jobs in an effort to reduce costs by £1 billion, or $1.25 billion, according to a Reuters report.
The decision is a result of the bank’s recent financial performance, with staff costs reaching £2 billion.
Barclays CEO CS Venkatakrishnan has said that the bank is planning to cut expenses by a total of a billion pounds in the coming days, which would account for approximately 7% of its underlying annual operating expenses of £15 billion in 2022. The impact of the cuts will be greatest on the employees working in Barclays Execution Services, known as BX.
According to the report, Barclays (BCS) is trying to cut down on long-term retail and investment expenses. For this, the option of layoff is also being adopted. Along with this, the bank has also cut the bonuses for employees. The bank wants to improve its cost-to-income ratio through this layoff, and this is one of the big priorities of CEO CS Venkatakrishnan.
The discussions regarding employee numbers at the BX division are still ongoing, and Barclays may choose to focus on job cuts in other departments, the source said.
Earlier in Q3 earnings, the UK’s multinational bank had hinted at substantial cost cutting that will be announced later in the year and had said, “evaluating actions to reduce structural costs to help drive future returns, which may result in material additional charges in Q423.”
“We have delivered on our cost guidance this quarter and remain committed to driving a lower cost-to-income ratio over time,” CEO C.S. Venkatakrishnan said during the bank’s Q2 earnings call in July.