Barclays plans to cut about 5,000 jobs, roughly 5% of its workforce, and says it is leaning on artificial intelligence and automation to do more of the work. The British bank disclosed the cuts alongside its third-quarter results, Tech Startups reported, citing Business Insider.
About 1,000 of the positions are already gone, according to layoff trackers. The rest are due to disappear by the end of the year.
Why banks are an early target
Banking jobs that involve processing, checking and routing information overlap heavily with what today’s AI tools do well. Research cited by layoff trackers puts office support, banking, finance and marketing roles among those facing the most pressure from automation. Workers in those fields who earn up to about $80,000 are affected most.
Barclays is not the only company that says technology will let it run leaner. The same theme runs through this week’s cuts at Netflix and eBay, which we covered in our report on tech’s layoff toll passing 190,000.
What it means for people who work in finance
The reports reviewed do not say which Barclays roles or countries will take the biggest hit, or how many cuts fall on U.S. staff.
Barclays has not said how much money it expects to save.
