Barclays to Cut About 5,000 Jobs by End-2026 as Q3 Pretax Profit Rises 12% and It Adds a £500 Million Buyback

Barclays plans about 5,000 job reductions, roughly 5% of its workforce, by the end of 2026, framing them in its third-quarter results as technology-enabled reductions in full-time staff. About 1,000 posts have already been closed, leaving roughly 4,000 to go, and around 60% of the cuts involve operational and functional roles, including developer positions, according to coverage of the announcement. Most of the cuts fall in the UK home market but affect staff globally.

Chief Executive C.S. Venkatakrishnan tied the cuts mainly to years of technology investment rather than to AI alone. AI "has an important role to play and may have a more important role to play in the future," he said, while describing AI as "the icing on the cake" rather than the cake itself. Barclays booked £201 million of structural cost actions in the third quarter and plans about £300 million more in the fourth, so the savings come after an upfront restructuring bill.

The results themselves were solid. Pretax profit rose 12% to £2.3 billion, roughly in line with analyst estimates, while income rose 3% to £7.4 billion and costs rose 1% to £4.6 billion, cutting the cost-to-income ratio to 62% from 63%. Return on tangible equity improved to 11.7% from 10.6%, the CET1 ratio was 14.2%, and the bank announced a new share buyback of up to £500 million. Barclays guided 2026 costs to about £18.5 billion and said it remains on track for its 2026 RoTE target of above 12% and its 2028 goal of returns above 14%.

Barclays shares were down 1.5% in early London trading. The watch items are delivery of the remaining 4,000 reductions by year end, whether the cost guidance of about £18.4 billion for 2027 holds, and the capital effect of Basel 3.1 rules taking effect on Jan. 1, 2027.