Barclays to cut 5,000 jobs, developers included, as its CEO calls AI "the icing on the cake, not the cake"

British bank Barclays said Oct 22 it will cut about 5,000 jobs, roughly 5% of its global workforce, by the end of the year as it leans harder on AI.

Per the BBC, 1,000 roles are already gone and another 4,000 will follow. About 60% of the cuts fall in support functions, including developers, and a large share is expected in India, where much of the UK retail bank's back office sits. Barclays also reported £2.3 billion in third-quarter profit, up from a year earlier but slightly below forecasts.

CEO C.S. Venkatakrishnan said "we will employ the AI at scale," but added that "AI is the icing on the cake not the cake," because "you need to do the infrastructure build to get the benefits of AI." AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould said the bank was "reaching for the AI lever."

Sky News' breaking post passed 1,000 likes on X. The same day, Australia's Westpac said its latest 140 role cuts were not AI-driven, Reuters reported.