Recently, many people have been worried about losing their jobs to AI. It’s a valid worry because several companies have cut staff, as AI is a cheaper replacement for those roles. Barclays (BCS) just announced that it’s doing the same. On Oct. 22, the British bank said it will cut about 5,000 jobs by the end of this year. That’s roughly 5% of its global workforce of around 92,000 to 93,000 employees. Most affected staff are involved in back-office tasks that AI tools can now handle faster and more cheaply. Barclays announced the news along with its third-quarter earnings, and its profits before tax rose 12% to £2.3 billion during the quarter, according to CNBC. Yet, despite the strong result, the bank still decided it could run with fewer people. Barclays confirms 5,000 cuts as AI takes over routine work Barclays had already let go of about 1,000 staff before the announcement. Then the bank said the remaining 4,000 cuts are set for the end of the fourth quarter, Reuters reported. Barclays is targeting more than £2 billion in total gross efficiency savings between 2026 and 2028, with group total costs expected to fall to around £18.4 billion in 2027 from about £18.5 billion in 2026, according to the bank’s Q3 2026 results announcement. Also read: Morgan Stanley flags Amgen’s edge after heart-drug rival stumbles Barclays Group Finance Director Anna Cross told analysts that the third- and fourth-quarter changes are “sizable” and reflect both a simplification of the organization and the early impacts of AI, Banking Dive reported. About 60% of the roles being cut are support roles that handle tasks like paperwork and routine reports. Software developers are included among them. Barclays Group CEO C.S. Venkatakrishnan, known as Venkat inside the bank, has been pushing a plan to cut costs by using more AI across the company for over a year. Earlier this year, he told investors the goal was “to secure sustainably higher returns,” RTE reported, adding that he planned to return more than £15 billion to shareholders between 2026 and 2028. On the Oct. 22 earnings call, Venkat reinforced that message while tempering expectations around the technology itself. “AI is the icing on the cake, not the cake,” he said, according to Banking Dive. Barclays will cut 5,000 jobs by year-end as AI takes over back-office work, signaling a broader banking shift that puts routine roles at risk. Aziz Shamuratov / Getty Images What the restructuring means for BCS shareholders To complete the layoff, the bank will need to spend on severance and the automation setup it will use to replace those staff. Roughly £300 million will be spent in the fourth quarter alone for that purpose. As a result, Barclays doubled its restructuring budget for 2026 to about £600 million. Even with those costs, shareholders are still set to get more cash. The bank announced plans to release another £500 million to investors through buybacks and dividends, which will bring its total capital returned since January to £2.8 billion, The Guardian reported. More Bank Coverage: JPMorgan reveals stocks worth buying in October 2026 BofA thinks Wall Street is underestimating one J&J drug Why Goldman Sachs still backs Netflix despite falling viewership For long-term BCS shareholders, the plan could help the bank earn more profit from each dollar it invests, and raise the value of each share from 2027 onward. I expect the bank’s next few earnings reports to look a bit weaker because of the one-time costs, but shareholders who are willing to wait through that period may see the bank’s profits grow once the AI plan starts to pay off. The AI shift is reshaping banking jobs everywhere Barclays is not the only bank laying off part of its staff due to AI efficiency. Standard Chartered also plans to cut more than 15% of its back-office roles by 2030, the BBC reported. A Citigroup research note once said the banking sector faces the highest risk of AI displacement, and it estimated that 54% of banking jobs could eventually be automated, Bloomberg reported. What I understand from this is that the AI shift is bigger than one bank or country. Given how fast firms are moving, I think learning new skills that AI tools can’t easily replicate is a reasonable step for anyone worried about job security in a shifting labor market. More Stocks News CoreWeave appears to have a lender problem, not a customer one Nokia says robots will drive the next wave of connectivity Goldman Sachs resets Eli Lilly 12-month stock price target before earnings Post-it Notes maker 3M eyes AI gold rush in major Amazon deal
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