Barclays spends £201 million replacing staff with new tech
Key Points
- Barclays spent £201 million on tech-enabled job cuts in Q3
- A further £300 million is planned for the final quarter of 2026
- Barclays UK accounted for £110 million of the quarter’s spending
- The bank targets over £2 billion in efficiency savings by 2028
- Pre-tax profit reached £8.39 billion in the first nine months
Barclays spent £201 million on technology-driven job cuts in the third quarter. The UK bank disclosed the figure in its third-quarter results, saying it was structurally reducing its cost base through technology-enabled cuts to full-time roles.
The restructuring bill was more than double the £93 million Barclays spent on similar actions a year earlier. Barclays plans to spend a further £300 million on these cuts in the final three months of 2026. The bank said the reductions would create capacity for further investment in the business.
Barclays UK, which serves more than 20 million customers, accounted for £110 million of the third-quarter spending, pushing the division’s costs up 6%.
The retail bank has spent £158 million on these restructuring actions so far this year. Barclays Investment Bank took £57 million in restructuring charges over the same three months.
Barclays told investors at its half-year results that it expected to spend up to £500 million on restructuring in the second half of 2026. That figure is about £300 million higher than the bank would normally spend on restructuring in a full year.
Barclays recorded around £200 million in cost savings during the quarter and around £550 million across the first nine months.
The bank expects total costs of £18.5 billion this year, falling to £18.4 billion in 2027. It is targeting more than £2 billion in gross efficiency savings between 2026 and 2028.
Barclays launched a new mobile banking app during the quarter, which it said offered customers a more personalised digital banking experience.
The bank made a profit before tax of £2.32 billion in the third quarter, up 12% year-on-year. Pre-tax profit for the first nine months of 2026 reached £8.39 billion, an increase of 15%.
