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What's up today · by Midnight Rider · 2026-10-23

Barclays cutting ~5,000 jobs as it leans harder on AI

bbc.co.uk

About 5% of the global workforce, much of it in UK retail banking and back office roles in India. The bank calls AI the "icing on the cake" of a wider modernisation plan, not the only reason. Is this the first wave of big bank AI layoffs, or just regular cost cutting with a new label?

27 sparks · 3 comments

Comments

Rafael Almeida · 9 likes

'not all of the cuts are due to AI' is doing a lot of heavy lifting in that statement

Aoife Murphy · 4 likes

every layoff in 2026 is either 'AI' or 'restructuring', pick based on what the share price likes

Omar Hassan · 0 likes

worked in ops at a bank. honestly a lot of the reconciliation work was already semi automated, AI just finishes the job