Barclays will downsize its investment bank by axing 19,000 jobs across the entire group over the next two years. This year, the bank will cut 14,000 positions, or one-tenth of its global workforce, more than an initial plan to remove up to 12,000 jobs in 2014. Some 7,000 investment bank staff will lose their jobs by 2016 – more than a quarter of employees at the division, whose huge bonuses and vast salaries have fuelled public and shareholder anger. Barclays said in a statement it will also create a ‘bad’ bank for non-core assets with a total value of £115 billion that would be sold or simply allowed to run down. As part of the overhaul, the company will incur £800 million of extra costs, exit its European retail banking business and focus on its Africa-wide and credit card businesses. Barclays employs about 139,000 staff worldwide, including around 26,000 in its investment bank.
