Barclays cuts 5,000 jobs in plan to save over £1.1bn by 2027
The reduction of around 5% of 93,000 staff was announced alongside strong third-quarter figures: £2.3bn in pre-tax profit, up 12%. The CFO points to AI-driven productivity — but the CEO calls AI the "icing on the cake" and attributes most of the gains to technology modernisation.
Barclays announced on Thursday 22 October 2026 that the bank will cut around 5,000 full-time positions, roughly 5% of its 93,000 employees globally. The news came with third-quarter results (July–September), in which the bank reported £2.3bn in pre-tax profit, a 12% increase from £2.1bn in the same period a year earlier, plus a £500m share buyback.
According to CFO Anna Cross, as reported by The Guardian, the cuts are part of plans to save more than £1.1bn in 2027. "These actions involve an expected reduction of around 5,000 full-time employees. Around 60% of the group actions relate to support functions, including fewer developers, as AI makes our people more productive," she told journalists on Thursday.
The CEO qualifies the AI explanation
The same day, chief executive C.S. Venkatakrishnan offered a more nuanced picture. According to the Guardian's account, he attributed the bulk of the efficiency gains so far to the modernisation of the bank's technology, not AI. AI, he said, "may have a more important role to play in the future" — and he called AI the "icing on the cake" in the modernisation effort.
The Guardian notes that Venkatakrishnan was asked how many of the cuts were directly linked to AI, without giving a figure. That means the most concrete connection between AI and the redundancies so far is the CFO's framing of fewer developers in support functions — not a measurement of how much AI is actually responsible.
The numbers behind the decision
- Around 5,000 full-time positions are being cut, approximately 5% of 93,000 employees globally.
- 1,000 employees have already been laid off since the start of the year, confirmed by management.
- The savings target is more than £1.1bn in 2027.
- Around 60% of the actions relate to support functions, "including fewer developers".
- Third quarter: £2.3bn in pre-tax profit, up 12% from £2.1bn, plus £500m in share buybacks.
All figures and quotes are based on the Guardian's coverage of the announcement; neither the timeline for the cuts, the geography, nor redundancy terms have been specified beyond the 2027 savings target.
The pattern: UK banks are tying job cuts to AI
Barclays is not alone. According to the Guardian, the announcement came months after Standard Chartered, another British bank, announced plans to cut more than 7,000 jobs over the next four years, around 15% of back-office roles by 2030, alongside increased AI use.
The timing is also politically charged: the announcement came days before the UK budget on 28 October, where tax increases for banks are expected.
The open questions
The biggest unanswered question is how large a share of the cuts is genuinely due to AI — the bank's own executives appear to disagree, and no one has quantified it. Nor has it been stated when the 5,000 cuts will take place, where they will land, or which roles beyond "support functions including developers" will be affected.