BarCap to axe hundreds of jobs

2nd Dec 2010 11:54

Barclays is getting rid of several hundred wealthy investment bankers following a big drop in revenues at its "casino" arm.A 90-day consultation process has been kicked off at Barclays Capital (BarCap), run by Bob Diamond who takes over as chief executive next March. Third-quarter profit fell 14% to £2.83bn from £3.28bn in Q2 and £3.85bn at the start of the year. Poor figures for the three months to June had already led to the loss of 300 staff. Much of the downturn in business has been caused by the ongoing debt crisis in the eurozone, reversing an upturn in volumes earlier in the year.Experts are predicting revenues at BarCap could be down as much as a fifth on 2009, leading to claims that the unit's workforce of over 25,000 is too larges. Almost 4,000 have joined in the past 18 months alone.A number of rivals are also expected to start trimming their teams as big rises in basic pay - brought in to replace massive bonuses - mean cutting the bonus pool doesn't have quite the same impact when things go bad.