Barclays begins cutting jobs at investment unit
British lender will partly reverse its expansion into equities and mergers in strategic changes
Barclays, Britain's second-largest bank, is preparing to cut jobs at its investment bank and has begun consulting with employees.
This "exercise is being carried out so that we can start to effect some of the strategic changes" to be announced on February 12, the bank said in a statement yesterday.
Chief executive Antony Jenkins, who took charge in August last year after the bank was fined a record £290 million (HK$3.56 billion) for manipulating the London interbank offered rate, is preparing to announce how he will revamp the bank.
Shrinking the investment bank would partly reverse his predecessor Robert Diamond's expansion into equities and mergers advisory in Asia and Europe following its acquisition of the North American operations of Lehman Brothers in 2008.
Barclays started eliminating some European investment banking jobs last month and may make cuts in Asia in coming weeks, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
The reductions might be equivalent to 5 to 10 per cent of the investment bank, or about 2,000 employees, said the people, who asked not to be identified because they were not authorised to speak publicly.
The securities unit employs about 9,000 people in Britain and about 24,000 globally.