Memo to Barclays staff from Tom King confirms job cuts at its investment bank as it closes its Moscow and Brazil offices
Barclays has confirmed hundreds of job cuts as it unveiled plans to pull out of some emerging markets.
In a memo to staff today, Tom King, the new chief of Barclays' investment bank, said the bank will re-focus on its businesses in the UK and US, as well as maintaining a presence in key markets including China, Hong Kong, India, Japan and Singapore.
But it will also close its Moscow and Brazil offices, with teams in New York and London taking up the slack. However, the bank will continue to maintain a presence in Spain, Italy and Mexico.
"We regret that some colleagues will leave the organisation as a result, and I would like to thank them for their commitment to Barclays," King wrote. Morning Wire understands that there will be around 1,000 job cuts, largely weighted towards Asia Pacific.
Yesterday it was reported that the bank was preparing to make the cuts, after it emerged in December that the company could cut 20 per cent of jobs at the investment bank.
In May last year Barclays announced 7,000 job cuts at its investment bank, although today's announcement is thought to be on top of that.
The news came after another disappointing day on Asian markets: the Nikkei closed 2.4 per cent lower, while the Hang Seng fell 1.8 per cent. However, European equities were looking more encouraging, with the FTSE 100 up 1.5 per cent in early afternoon trading, while the Dax was up two per cent and the Cac 40 was up 2.4 per cent.