By Paul Clarke

Of Financial News


Barclays has started cutting around 100 dealmaking jobs as the U.K. lender strips out roles across the bank.

The bank informed staff affected by the cuts in its investment-banking and capital-markets units on Wednesday, according to people familiar with the matter.

The job losses are part of Barclays's 2 billion pound ($2.51 billion) cost-cutting drive under Chief Executive CS Venkatakrishnan's plans to boost returns.

"As previously reported, we regularly review our talent pool to ensure that we can invest in talent and deliver for clients," a Barclays spokesperson said. "This is difficult, but necessary, to ensure we position ourselves for long-term success as we execute against our strategy."

Venkat laid out a plan to ramp up revenue in February, which will look to reduce its reliance on its investment bank without shrinking the unit drastically. It won't have any additional risk-weighted assets allocated to the division in the coming years.

However, Barclays has positioned itself as the last-standing European investment bank and has ambitions to gain a top five position, which would break the Wall Street dominance of the dealmaking league tables.

As well as the cuts, it has been hiring senior dealmakers. Latterly it took on Stephen Pick from UBS to lead its M&A division in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, while Rafael Abati joined from the Swiss bank as co-head of its energy transition group for the EMEA region in April.

Barclays currently ranks sixth by investment banking revenue in 2024, with $880 million, according to data provider Dealogic, and holds 3.3% of the market.

Financial News is owned by News Corp, the parent company of The Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones Newswires.


Website: www.fnlondon.com


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