The Barclays logo. Image: Barclays (logo, via Wikimedia Commons)
Barclays will cut about 5,000 jobs this year, roughly 5% of its staff, and named AI as one of the reasons in its third-quarter results on Thursday. About 60% of the roles going are in support functions, and the bank listed developers among them.
The British bank said the cuts come from “organisational simplification and technology change efficiency driven by AI”. Its results announcement describes the plan as “structurally reducing the cost base through expected technology-enabled FTE reductions, creating capacity for further investment in the business”. FTE means full-time equivalent roles.
What Barclays announced
The figure of about 5,000 is the expected fall in full-time staff from what Barclays calls structural cost actions taken in 2026, which it says are subject to consultation with employees “as required”. The bank booked £201 million (about $270 million) of these costs in the third quarter, up from £93 million a year earlier, and plans about £300 million more in the final three months of the year. It expects total costs of about £18.5 billion this year and £18.4 billion in 2027.
Chief financial officer Anna Cross told reporters that about 1,000 roles have already gone and the rest will be cut by the end of the year, Reuters reported. The 60% figure for support functions is based on the cost actions taken in the second half of 2026.
Barclays doesn’t say how many of the 5,000 jobs are down to AI and how many to simplifying the organisation.
‘The icing on the cake, not the cake’
Chief executive C.S. Venkatakrishnan said the cuts were not limited to one part of the business, City AM reported:
They’re across the bank and they are primarily related to operational and functional roles that service our business… it’s a result of the investments which we’ve made in technology over a number of years and which we’ll continue to make.
C.S. Venkatakrishnan, Barclays chief executive, to City AM
He described AI’s role as “the icing on the cake, not the cake”, framing it as the latest layer on years of technology spending rather than the whole story.
Developers, three weeks after Claude Code
The mention of developers stands out. On October 1, Barclays said it expects half its software developers to be using Anthropic’s Claude Code by the end of 2026, and most of its engineers by 2027. Thursday’s results don’t name any AI tool or link the job cuts to a particular one.
Reuters called Cross’s comments one of the clearest signs yet from a big bank of how AI is letting firms reduce headcount in such roles. Other big employers have weighed similar moves. Apple drew up plans to replace 5,000 support staff with AI agents before putting them on hold, and Anthropic’s own figures show its junior technical hiring falling sharply as its AI agents came to outwork staff.
A profit miss on the trading floor
The cuts came with results that fell short of expectations. Profit before tax rose 12% to £2.3 billion (about $3.1 billion) for the three months to September, below the £2.42 billion that analysts had forecast, according to consensus figures compiled by Barclays. Income from fixed income, currencies and commodities trading fell 19%, while equities trading rose 47%.
“I am disappointed, and you can be sure this will get my attention,” Venkatakrishnan said of the fixed income business, according to Reuters. Barclays shares fell about 2.5% in early trading in London. The bank also announced a new £500 million share buyback.
Why it matters
Banks have talked for years about AI making staff more productive. Barclays has now put AI in its results as a reason for thousands of job cuts, and named developers, the people AI coding tools are sold to help, among those affected, as the first major European lender to report this quarter.
Sources: Barclays Q3 2026 results presentation; Barclays Q3 2026 results announcement; Barclays pre-Q3 2026 analyst consensus; Reuters (via Euronext); City AM.
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