Barclays sheds 5,000 jobs amid effort to reduce costs

BARCLAYS cut its workforce by around 5,000 last year as part of an ongoing push to strip costs from the lender.

The bank confirmed the losses for the year ending December after reports emerged that it was planning to cut 2,000 jobs in a £1bn cost-cutting drive.

Investors await an update from chief executive CS Venkatakrishnan, known as Venkat, in February which could show further cost reduction plans.

Barclays Execution Services, a division that offers legal, HR and compliance services to the Barclays empire, bore the brunt of the losses, it said.

It is the first time the bank has put a number on the headcount reduction, which was first reported by Sky News.

The losses are equal to around 6pc of Barclays global workforce of 84,000. Around a quarter took place in the UK and have been through redundancies and roles not being filled.

In November, unions flagged 900 jobs that were set to be lost. These are likely to have been part of the 5,000 figure. Barclays has been seeking to cut costs to revive its share price which has fallen by 18pc over the past year to 154p.

It has struggled to compete with Wall Street rivals, while growing digitisation and automation of banking has removed the need for many back office functions.

Venkat is expected to announce a restructuring of the bank at annual results next month, which could include fresh cost targets

The bank hinted to investors in September that there would be a “material” restructuring charge for the quarter ending December.

However, Venkat has been vague about how much of the restructuring charge would form part of February’s restructuring plan.