Barclays Chief Executive Officer Jes Staley has started a fresh round of cuts at the investment bank, affecting staff in New York, London and most deeply in Asia, according to a person with knowledge of the matter.
The bonus pool for the investment bank may be cut by at least 10 percent from the previous year, said the person, who asked not to be identified because the decision is not public. The bank, which hasn't made a final decision on compensation, plans to pay bonuses in March, later than the usual mid-February timing, according to a separate person.
Staley, a former JPMorgan Chase & Co. banker who took over last month, is seeking ways to boost earnings growth and restore investor confidence by focusing on the bank's most profitable businesses. As part of the overhaul, Barclays may cut an additional 20 percent of investment bank staff, with most of the losses coming in Asia and the global cash equities business, people familiar with the situation said last month.
Staley and Chairman John McFarlane are scheduled to present a broader strategic update alongside the bank's full-year results on March 1. A spokesman for Barclays in London declined to comment.
The bonus pool at the investment bank fell 24 percent to 1 billion pounds ($1.4 billion) in 2014 from 1.3 billion pounds in the previous year, according to the bank's annual report. Total compensation costs for the division fell 9 percent to 3.6 billion pounds from 4 billion pounds over the same period.
Barclays fell 4.1 percent to 182.05 pence in London Wednesday, tracking a global rout in equity markets and extending its decline to 17 percent so far this year. The stock lost about 10 percent in both 2014 and 2015. Staley was hired as CEO after McFarlane fired Antony Jenkins over the perceived slow pace of restructuring.
Staley is the latest CEO to deepen cuts at its securities units as banks shrink to restore profit growth amid tougher capital rules and a cooling global economy. Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman said
At Deutsche Bank AG, co-CEO John Cryan plans to eliminate about 9,000 jobs on a net basis by 2018, while Standard Chartered Plc CEO Bill Winters plans to cut 15,000 jobs to help save $2.9 billion by 2018.
The Barclays CEO extended a hiring freeze indefinitely in December after discovering the bank had only cut about 3,000 positions since 2012 because it continued "hiring tens of thousands of people every year" during an earlier job-reduction program.
While the securities unit, headed by Tom King, contributes about a third of the bank's revenue, it has the lowest profitability of four units with a 2.7 percent return on equity in 2014.
"Our focus is on the U.S. and the U.K. with a global network that's right-sized and that will be measured on profitability and returns," King said of his strategy at a conference in September. "But all the time we're monitoring our geographies, we're monitoring our products, and we're making adjustments."
