Barclays investment bank could be set for staff cuts as the organisation focuses on its most profitable areas in an attempt to meet stringent targets.
The organisation declined to comment on reports that it was poised to make "significant cuts", while sources close to the organisation suggested that although there may be some changes this was part of "business as usual" at the bank.
Barclays was hiring staff for the investment bank in 2017, after a hiring freeze following the financial crisis that resulted in over 13,000 people leaving through attrition in 2016.
According to recent reports, the attrition level at the bank has dropped, and with Barclays seen as one of the banks that is most tied to the UK after Brexit, employees are unwilling to move to other banks that may then relocate them.
This, and Barclays’ current costcutting strategy, may be placing pressure on the investment bank to cut staff.
Barclays has pledged to reduce annual costs to between £13.6bn and £13.9bn by 2019 from £14.6bn in 2016. Cutting staff expenses is seen as one way of meeting this objective, as well as the target of generating a return on tangible equity of greater than nine per cent in 2019 and more than 10 per cent the following year.
According to a report last year from consultancy firm Oliver Wyman, the UK's finance industry could lose up to 40,000 investment banking jobs in the next few years if we lose access to the European single market.
