Barclays joins ranks of investment banks wielding jobs axe

Barclays is joining the ranks of global investment banks taking the axe to jobs amid a slowdown in dealmaking and stock market flotations.

Sky News has learnt that the British lender will this week cut more than 100 roles in its investment bank, with sources saying the layoffs would not be confined to a single country or function within the business.

Although modest in size, the redundancies point to further attempts by executives to trim costs during a difficult period for the global economy, with sharp declines in merger activity in some markets seen in recent quarters.

Barclays was reported last November to have cut roughly 200 jobs in its investment bank, making the latest cuts the second round in less than six months.

Citi, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley have collectively axed thousands of jobs since the turn of the year.

The redundancies have taken place despite surging interest rates being partly responsible for improved bank profitability, with three of the largest US banks reporting higher-than-expected earnings last week.

Nevertheless, the last month has been one of the most turbulent in global banking since the 2008 financial crisis.

Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse in the US, and the subsequent rescue takeover of its UK arm by HSBC, underlined the difficulties posed by rapid central bank rate rises.

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The emergency takeover of Credit Suisse by Swiss rival UBS was the most significant bank deal globally since the banking meltdown 15 years ago, and has sparked fears – which the likes of Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey have sought to quell – of another systemic crisis.

A Barclays spokesman declined to comment.

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