Barclays is set to cut around 5,000 jobs due to the increasing use of AI technology in its operations.

The bank announced the news alongside its third quarter results, stating that around 1,000 employees had been let go and a further 4,000 roles will cut by the end of this year.

Most of the staff facing redundancy are in operational and functional roles and based in the UK. The bank said the move equates to around five per cent of its global workforce.

Barclays said the redundancies are due to its investments in technology, which have made its workflows more efficient.

Commenting on the news CS Venkatakrishnan, group chief executive at Barclays, said the move was part of part of “investments which we've made into technology over a number of years and which we continue to make”.

“AI has an important role to play and may have a more important role to play in the future,” he added.

“I've often said that it is the icing on the cake - it's not the cake - because you need to do the infrastructure build to get the benefits of AI,” he said. “Where the infrastructure is modern, we've been applying it here.”

In its third-quarter results, Barclays revealed a profit of £2.3 billion over the past three months, which is a 12 per cent increase compared to the same period last year. This is slightly less than forecast due to its fixed income trading business underperforming.

Other banks have announced plans to reduce their workforce in recent months, including National Australia Bank, which will cut up to 2,500 jobs, six per cent of its workforce, over the next year.

The bank said around 1,500 roles will be cut by the end of this year. The largest cuts will affect corporate functions rather than customer-facing banking roles.

Earlier this month, the Financial Times reported that HSBC will cut jobs across its UK wealth management division thanks to a push for more AI automation.

Citing people familiar with the plans, the newspaper reported that HSBC will cut financial advisers in the unit by up to 70 per cent and halve its specialist roles.

---