Barclays to begin cutting jobs in the Asia-Pacific

Barclays, Britain's second-biggest bank by assets, will start eliminating 100 jobs across its Asia-Pacific investment banking and markets businesses this week, a person with knowledge of the matter said.

The cuts represented about 5 per cent of the London-based firm's investment bank workforce in the region, said the person, who asked not to be named.

Barclays would also name Vanessa Koo to replace Edward King as Asia-Pacific head of mergers and acquisitions, the person said.

The dismissals come after a series of senior departures from the bank including Robert Morrice, the Asia-Pacific chairman and chief executive, who said last month he was retiring.

Chief executive Antony Jenkins revealed plans on May 8 to pare 7,000 investment banking jobs worldwide by 2016 as revenue from trading fixed income, currencies and commodities shrinks.

"We are not exiting any of the 11 countries we currently operate in throughout the region," said Timothy Cuffe, a spokesman for the bank in Hong Kong. "We will target growth in key areas of strength and scale for the bank."