THE MACHINES ARE TAKING THE DESKS! British banking giant Barclays is cutting around 5,000 jobs as it brings more artificial intelligence into its work, the BBC reported Thursday.
The bank says 1,000 posts are already gone, and another 4,000 will go by the end of this year. That’s about 5% of its global workforce. The cuts center on its UK retail bank, but a big share is expected to fall in India, where some UK back-office work is done. About 60% will hit support functions, developers included.
Not every cut is down to AI, Barclays says. It calls them part of a long-running modernisation plan, and boss CS Venkatakrishnan put it this way: “AI is the icing on the cake not the cake.” Still, “We will employ the AI at scale,” he said.
Meanwhile the money keeps rolling: Barclays posted £2.3bn profit for July through September, up on last year, though slightly below forecasts. It expects its efficiency drive to save another £1.1bn in 2027.
And it’s not alone. HSBC, Standard Chartered and Danske Bank have all flagged AI-related job cuts this year. Analyst Will Howlett of Quilter Cheviot said the industry is reaching the point where tech spending “translates into fewer people being required to run the business.” Translation: check your inbox.
Featured image: AI-generated editorial illustration by Bugle Blast.
Sources: BBC News
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