Roughly 60% of the roles affected are in support functions, including developers, the bank said in its quarterly results
Barclays said Thursday it expects to cut about 5,000 jobs, roughly 5 percent of its employees, as it invests in technology to lower costs. The London-based bank is the latest to link job cuts to AI, following similar moves at other banks this year.
The bank said about 1,000 positions have already closed, according to the BBC and The New York Times, and the BBC reported that the remaining reductions are expected by the end of 2026. The cuts follow structural cost actions taken this year and remain subject to consultation, according to the bank’s results presentation. Roughly 60 percent of the second-half cuts will fall in support functions, including software developers, the presentation said.
The reductions are focused on the U.K. retail bank, but some back-office work for U.K. operations is done in India, where a significant share of the cuts is expected, the BBC said.
Barclays reported third-quarter pretax profit of £2.3 billion ($3.1 billion), up 12 percent from a year earlier. Group income of £7.4 billion, up 3 percent, came in below analyst estimates of £7.61 billion, CNBC reported. The bank expects its efficiency measures to deliver more than £1.1 billion ($1.5 billion) in savings in 2027, according to its results presentation.
AI isn’t the whole story at Barclays
The reductions come at the end of a three-year cost-cutting program, and one slide in the bank’s results presentation carries the title “Structurally reducing the cost base to generate capacity for investment.”
“AI is the icing on the cake, not the cake,” C.S. Venkatakrishnan, Barclays’ chief executive in London, told reporters on a call.
He said the bank intends to use AI widely, but that the infrastructure must be built first to capture its benefits, and not all of the cuts are due to AI, the BBC reported.
Barclays’ own materials do tie part of the cuts to the technology. Anna Cross, the bank’s group finance director in London, said about 60 percent of the actions relate to support functions, “including fewer developers as AI makes our people more productive,” according to the bank’s results call speech.
Unions and analysts push back
Sharon Graham, general secretary of the Unite union in the U.K., said Barclays was “using AI as an excuse to discard its loyal and long-suffering workforce,” according to the BBC. She said employers should focus on upgrading skills so workers stay employed as technology changes the workplace.
Analysts offered a more measured read. Russ Mould, an investment analyst at AJ Bell in the U.K., told the BBC that banks haven’t yet made big moves toward widespread AI and would weigh security and customer service before adopting it to save money. Will Howlett, a financials analyst at Quilter Cheviot in the U.K., said years of heavy technology spending are starting to show up as smaller headcounts.
Barclays isn’t alone. HSBC, Standard Chartered and Danske Bank have also been tied to AI-related job cuts this year. Standard Chartered set off a debate in May 2026 when it said it would eliminate more than 7,000 jobs. HSBC’s case is less settled. Bloomberg reported in March 2026 that the bank was weighing about 20,000 cuts, and Reuters noted that no final decisions had been made.
Mould said what other banks report in their results over the coming weeks will be worth watching.
What AI layoffs mean for U.S. employers
U.S. employers have cited AI more than 120,000 times this year, or more than a fifth of all announced cuts, according to research firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas. That follows AI becoming the most-cited reason for job cuts earlier in 2026, as HRD America reported.
The broader picture isn’t one-directional. U.S. employers announced 573,195 job cuts through September, down 39 percent from 946,426 in the first nine months of 2025, Challenger reported, according to Dow Jones. The Times noted that the layoffs come as investors and economists look for evidence that AI can raise profits and productivity.
Some critics call this AI washing, meaning employers blame AI for layoffs that have little to do with the technology. HRD America has detailed how employers can avoid AI washing accusations during workforce changes. The opposite risk is also showing up in survey data. More than half of the 600 HR professionals Careerminds surveyed in February 2026 said their organizations rehired for previously eliminated roles within six months, according to HRD America’s report on rehiring after regretted AI-driven cuts.
