Get ready! This bank wants to lay off 2,000 employees

Jakarta –

British bank Barclays is currently preparing a plan to save the company’s operations of up to 1 billion pounds or the equivalent of Rp. 19.5 trillion (exchange rate of Rp. 19,500/US dollar). In this savings plan, the company will reportedly cut around 1,500-2,000 employees.

Launching from ReutersFriday (24/11/2023), a worker who is aware of this problem admitted that the company could make cuts, especially in the back office (positions that do not have direct contact with customers).

It was explained that this mass layoff would most likely be carried out in the Barclays Execution Services section or what is known internally as ‘BX’. Apart from that, cuts will most likely also target other divisions.

“Discussions on the number of (required) BX employees are ongoing and Barclays will likely decide to prioritize layoffs in other areas,” said the unnamed source.

Separately, previously Barclays CEO CS Venkatakrishnan had indicated that his party would make cuts due to a decrease in revenue accompanied by an increase in operational costs.

“Barclays is evaluating material structural cost actions,” Venkat said when it reported disappointing third-quarter results in October.

It should be noted that in the last 5 years the number of BX staff has increased significantly. Of course, with the increase in the number of employees, companies have to dig deeper into their pockets for operational financing

The number of BX employees was recorded at around 22,300 at the end of 2022, up from 20,000 at the end of 2017. Meanwhile, annual operational costs at BX have increased to 2 billion pounds (Rp. 39 trillion), from previously 1.8 billion pounds. (Rp. 35.1 trillion).

In addition, since Venkat took over as CEO the company has been grappling with the impact of an investment error that had cost the bank hundreds of millions of dollars. Then the value of Barclays shares was also recorded as continuing to decline by up to 26% since November 1 2021.

This condition makes plans to cut employees to save expenses of up to IDR 19.5 trillion increasingly possible. However, when asked for official information, this British banking spokesperson refused to comment.

(fdl/fdl)