Antony Jenkins, the chief executive of Barclays who is engaged in a radical shake-up at the bank, has defended his plans for job cuts and bonuses.
He told CNBC: “This is about Barclays’ future as a balanced and international bank.”
Barclays will cut a total of 14,000 jobs this year, higher than the expected 10-12,000, and a total of 19,000 will go between now and the end of 2016. Investors cheered the move and sent the stock up over 5 percent.
This includes cuts of 7,000 at the investment bank by the end of 2016, as it is shrunk to around 30 percent of the overall business, down from over 50 percent at the moment. Jenkins has had to re-focus the bank from investment banking towards its traditional retail bank operations.
Barclays share price rose by 5 percent in early trading on Thursday, as the market welcomed the announcement.
Analysts at Citi described the moves as “sensible” and added they “should be well received.”
Read more at CNBC