Barclays to cut 5,000 jobs in AI efficiency push

Barclays expects to have cut about 5,000 jobs by the end of 2026, about 5 percent of its workforce, as it turns to artificial intelligence to make operations more efficient.

Why it matters: Barclays is one of the largest employers yet to put a hard number on AI driven job losses in banking, and it is doing so while reporting a 12 percent rise in third quarter pre-tax profit to 2.3 billion pounds.

Data as of Correction, October 22, 2026, 04:49 ET: the first version of this item misstated the third quarter profit figure, the split of jobs already cut, and a savings target, on a faulty source summary. The figures here are the Press Association report of October 22, 2026, read in full, corroborated by BBC News and CNBC reports of the same day read in full. The job figures are Barclays' own, given alongside its third quarter results. Developing item.

Barclays expects to have cut around 5,000 staff by the end of 2026 after turning to artificial intelligence to make the bank more efficient, the equivalent of about 5 percent of a workforce that totalled around 93,000 globally at the end of 2025. Some 1,000 of the roles were cut during the first six months of 2026, with the remainder spread across the second half of the year, and most of the losses affect operational and functional positions, including roles such as developers.

Group chief executive C.S. Venkatakrishnan said the move was a result of the investments the bank has made into technology over a number of years. Barclays carried out about 200 million pounds of structural cost actions in the third quarter, taking savings this year to around 600 million pounds, with a further 300 million pounds planned for the final three months, mostly from the UK retail bank and partly from the investment bank, and reported third quarter pre-tax profit of 2.3 billion pounds, 12 percent higher than a year earlier.

Barclays to cut 5,000 jobs in AI efficiency push

Sources