Barclays announces further job cuts

More IT workers to go as Barclays downsizes workforce

Thousands of employees at Barclays are awaiting their fate after the bank began a headcount reduction exercise across its investment banking and management division in the second cull announced in a week.

The division, which includes Barclays Capital and Barclays Wealth, has launched a consultation process to ensure that it is "appropriately sized given current market conditions".

A source told Computing that the move will affect all geographies and product areas, including front-office and back-office staff and IT workers.

The news follows Barclays' announcement last Wednesday that it would cut over 400 IT staff whose "responsibilities are unclear" at its Global Infrastructure and Service Delivery divisions.

Workers union Unite said that it has been consulted on at least 3,000 job losses to be announced by Barclays before the summer.

The union said that it has "stressed to the bank that they should share the big picture and come clean with their staff in order to reassure them that they will not be the next victim of the bank's strategy of 'death by a thousand cuts' ".

"In this economic environment it is not acceptable for Barclays staff to arrive at work each day with the dread that they could be next in what appears to be a lottery of job losses at Barclays," Unite said in a statement.

Yesterday, it emerged that Merrill Lynch may shed nearly 2,000 jobs as it wants to cut costs following its merger with Bank of America, agreed amid the peak of the banking turmoil last year.