Barclays expects to cut roughly 5,000 positions globally in 2026 as it simplifies operations and uses artificial intelligence and other technology to improve efficiency.
The reductions represent approximately 5% of the roughly 93,000 people the London-based bank employed globally at the end of 2025. Around 1,000 positions were eliminated in the first half, with another 4,000 expected to go by year-end.
For IT leaders, the announcement raises questions about how AI productivity gains should influence staffing, training, and the expertise needed to maintain critical systems.
Back-office restructuring
About 60% of the planned reductions involve support functions, including developers, according to Banking Dive. Barclays says AI is making employees more productive, alongside broader organizational and technology changes.
The growth of AI agent builders and automated workflows gives IT teams more options for automating work, but Barclays has not identified the specific tools behind these reductions.
Speaking with analysts during the bank’s Oct. 22 third-quarter results call, Chief Financial Officer Anna Cross stated: “The changes that we’re making in the third and fourth quarters of this year are sizable. They relate both to the simplification of the organization and to some of the impacts that we’re starting to see from AI,” according to Banking Dive.
Chief Executive C.S. Venkatakrishnan downplayed suggestions that algorithms alone caused the workforce contraction.
“We will employ AI at scale,” Venkatakrishnan told reporters, adding that “AI is the icing on the cake, not the cake.”
Barclays expects restructuring costs of roughly £600 million in 2026, about double its earlier estimate. The spending covers workforce reductions, technology investment, and broader operational changes intended to lower future costs.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham criticized the announcement, accusing Barclays of using AI to justify job losses and calling for employers to invest in workers’ skills, according to the union’s statement.
Tech efficiency vs. financial volatility
Barclays’ restructuring follows other technology-related workforce reductions, including Oracle’s cuts as it rebuilds around AI. The bank also reported uneven third-quarter earnings. Pre-tax profit rose 12% year over year to £2.3 billion, yet missed analyst consensus. While equities trading revenue rose 47% year over year, revenue from the fixed income, currencies, and commodities (FICC) division dropped 19% to £1.01 billion, which Venkatakrishnan characterized as “somewhat disappointing.”
For IT budget owners, the restructuring highlights the need to separate upfront spending from recurring savings. An automation business case should account for implementation, integration, training, and ongoing support costs, alongside any expected reduction in staffing expenses.
What IT leaders should assess before reducing teams
For technology managers considering similar changes, the first step is to identify which tasks AI can reliably accelerate and which responsibilities still require experienced staff. Generating code faster leaves testing, security review, maintenance, and production support to assign.
Productivity measures should cover the full workflow. Teams should compare delivery times, defects reaching production, review workloads, and incident recovery times before and after introducing automation. Time saved on an individual task may be offset by additional checking or correction elsewhere.
Staffing decisions also need to account for system knowledge. Before reducing or reallocating roles, managers should document critical dependencies, transfer ownership of applications, and establish who can intervene when an automated workflow fails. For teams responsible for payment fraud detection and prevention, that planning should include clear escalation routes for cases requiring specialist review.
Training belongs in the same plan. Employees moving into AI-assisted roles need guidance on validating outputs, recognizing errors, and handling sensitive information. Managers should assess whether reskilling or redeployment can address emerging needs before removing expertise the organization may still require.
The practical test is whether a smaller team can sustain service quality and lower total operating costs. Barclays’ announcement gives IT leaders a reason to examine that question, but its planned headcount reduction is not a staffing benchmark for another organization.
Read more: Explore how Workday’s Work Intelligence connects AI workforce planning with employee skills, hiring, and training as businesses reassess which tasks to automate.