Barclays cutting 1,000 jobs, 230 eliminated in Asia

Barclays Plc Chief Executive Officer Jes Staley has started a fresh round of cuts at the investment bank, with plans to eliminate more than 1,000 jobs worldwide and exit several Asian countries, people with knowledge of the matter said.

The UK bank plans to cut about 230 jobs in the Asia-Pacific region, including winding up its cash equities business there, one of the people said, asking not to be identified because the decision isn't public.

It will exit operations in countries including Australia, Taiwan, South Korea and Malaysia and plans to maintain offices in Hong Kong, China, Japan, Singapore and India, and keep its prime brokerage and derivatives business in Asia, the person said.

Staley, a former JPMorgan Chase & Co. banker who took over last month, is seeking ways to boost earnings growth and restore investor confidence by focusing on the bank's most profitable businesses. He and Chairman John McFarlane are scheduled to present a broader strategic update alongside the bank's full-year results on March 1.

"This suggests that they are having to be very aggressive to have any chance of boosting returns in the investment bank as a whole and it may imply a lack of patience by the chairman in terms of how long this process will take," said Christopher Wheeler, an analyst in London with Atlantic Equities LLP.

Turmoil in global equity and commodity markets is adding to the urgency for banks to reassess which markets and business lines they want to compete in. Standard Chartered Plc and Royal Bank of Scotland Plc are among companies that have made broad cuts in Asia after deciding their operations there weren't profitable enough. Those retrenchments may open the door for some competitors to take market share.