Barclays To Axe 3,700 Jobs In Strategic Overhaul

Barclays is to axe at least 3,700 jobs and prune its investment bank under a restructuring plan launched by its new chief executive on Tuesday which seeks to cut 1.7 billion pounds ($2.7 billion) in annual costs and improve standards.

Antony Jenkins said the job cuts will include 1,800 in corporate and investment banking and 1,900 in its European retail and business banking.

He plans to focus investment in Britain, the United States and Africa, and cut back its presence across Europe and Asia.

That will include a scaling back of the investment bank’s equities and advisory businesses in Europe and Asia.

Jenkins said he aims to cut the cost base to 16.8 billion pounds in 2015, excluding one-off costs of 2.7 billion pounds over the next three years.

Unveiling the strategic plan alongside annual results, the bank reported a pretax profit last year of just 246 million pounds, almost wiping out a 5.9 billion profit in 2011 due to charges for compensating customers mis-sold products and a loss on the value of its own debt.

However, the bank said its adjusted pretax profit for 2012 was 7.05 billion pounds, up 26 percent on the year and in line with the average forecast by analysts.

Reuters