LONDON, May 8 (UPI) -- Barclays said Thursday it plans to eliminate 19,000 jobs by 2016, about half of those in the U.K., with their investment bank losing 7,000 jobs.
CEO Anthony Jenkins plans to eliminate 12,000 jobs this year, signaling efforts to create a large, global bank are over. The bank will also create a "bad bank" to slowly reduce or sell its $195 billion in non-core operations, including its European consumer arm.
"This is a bold simplification of Barclays," said Jenkins. "We will be a focused international bank, operating only in areas where we have capability, scale and competitive advantage."
Barclay's $195 billion in non-core operations includes $152 billion of investment bank assets and $27 billion in retail banking operations. Retail banking in Spain, Portugal, Italy and France will be shifted to non-core operations.
The trimming will be most felt in the U.K., where 9,000 jobs will be eliminated. Barclays could close up to 400 bank branches over the next few years, but the company made no mention of retail bank branch closures.
Barclays has struggled since the financial crisis to reduce its dependence on its investment unit, which once accounted for more than half of profit and assets. The new realignment will have the investment operations account for only 30 percent by 2016.
Barclays reported a 5 percent drop in profits from the previous quarter and its investment services saw a 28 percent slump in revenues.
