The British bank, Barclays, is about to announce a series of investment banking job cuts across its Asian branches, according to
Reuters.
Sources close to the international media outlet say the cuts come as part of a global restructuring that includes corporate finance and advisory staff in South Korea and Taiwan.
Further cuts among equities sales and research staff bring the total up to at least 50 job losses in these two countries, the sources claim.
Looking at Asia, job losses will include employees from countries in which Barclays has failed to become a leading player.
The company is already planning to close its Indian equities business as part of a larger three-year cost reduction plan initiated by chief executive, Jes Staley,
Reuters reported.
The Indian business was rolled out in 2011, employs approximately two dozen staff and offers research and brokering for institutional investors.
Sources claim Staley told staff across the bank last month that the pace of the global restructuring had been too slow and that additional job cuts were required.
Overall, the cost reduction plan is said to involve around 19,000 job cuts – a large portion of which will be in Asia. This comprises about 14 per cent of Barclays’ global workforce.
When contacted to see whether this would affect the Singapore branches, a Barclays spokesperson told
HRD that the bank would not comment on speculation.
If the reports are true however, Barclays will follow other global banks such as Standard Chartered and Deutsch Bank which have also had to announce major job cuts and a major restructuring of their global operations.
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