Barclays and Natwest layoffs signal start of banking’s AI job squeeze

Barclays, Natwest, Lloyds and HSBC toasted to a £14n profit haul in the third-quarter but sweeping job cuts stole the show. Samuel Norman takes a look at what the last three months signal for the sector s future. As bank leaders stepped up to the podium for third-quarter earnings, the agenda had already been set for them. Barclays opened the reporting run by confirming roughly 5,000 jobs would be cut over the course of the year. Having already cleared 1,000 in the first half, the remainder would be gone before the year is out. Just months ago in May, Barclays boss CS Venkatakrishnan, known in the industry as Venkat, said the fundamental impact” of AI was coming but he didn’t quite see it “yet”. By autumn, however, the tone had switched and the third-quarter earnings reports suggested the technology had already begun to eat away at the sector s headcount. Barclays’ cull, which will affect around five per cent of its global workforce, came as part of plans to save more t