Barclays plans to slash 100 jobs from its Information Technology (IT) operations in Singapore. This move is intended to reduce costs, according to sources. The unidentified spokespersons for the company said, some of the jobs will move to India.
Under the leadership of Jes Staley, Barclays Group CEO, the troubled bank has been trimming down its workforce in Singapore and has been on a fervent drive to dispose assets acquired and developed during the tenure of previous CEO Bob Diamond.
While the company confirmed slashing of jobs in Singapore, it however declined to provide any specific information on the department affected by this move and the number of people who would be laid off.
An emailed statement by Barclays was quoted by Straits Times stating, “We have now identified a number of additional roles that carry out global activity in Singapore which can be relocated. Regrettably, this will mean that roles will fall away in Singapore, and so we are working closely with the colleagues impacted to ensure they are supported throughout the process.”
This reduction of staffers follows the earlier IT cutbacks in May, when some of the global technology roles in Singapore were moved to the bank’s other technology hubs, including the one in India. Earlier this year, the bank shut down its cash equities operations across Asia and reduced 1,200 positions globally.
In January 2016, the UK-based Bank had let go some of its employees close to 1,000 jobs worldwide and 230 positions in Asia, in a move to scale down its operations. Barclays Singapore which had a headcount of 3,200 staffers confirmed that more than 10 jobs were cut in the equities and local market rates teams, Straits Times reported.
Following China’s economic slowdown, market volatility and drop in deal volumes have forced financial lenders to cut costs, and several other banks following this cost-cutting route of reducing staffers include the Royal Bank of Scotland and CIMB.
Standard Chartered announced a cut of 15,000 jobs globally last year, while not revealing how many jobs were cut in Singapore, where it had around 7,000 employees working for the Bank.
