Barclays announced on 22 October, alongside its third-quarter results, that it will reduce its workforce by about 5,000 roles during 2026, roughly 5% of its 93,000 staff. About 1,000 roles have already gone and the remaining 4,000 will follow by the end of the year. According to the bank, around 60% of the cuts are in support functions, including developers, as artificial intelligence lifts productivity. Barclays is targeting more than 1.1 billion pounds of savings in 2027.

What it means: Barclays has drawn one of the clearest links yet at a large European bank between artificial intelligence and headcount. The notable detail is that the cuts reach beyond customer service and back office to developers, which shows how quickly code-generation tools are changing the way banks size their technology teams. For Greek banks, which are already investing in digital assistants and process automation, Barclays offers a benchmark for the savings considered achievable. For software firms and consultancies supplying development work to banks, the message is that clients will increasingly ask for outcomes rather than hours. That puts pressure on time-and-materials pricing and favours projects with clear deliverables. There is another side, though: a bank with fewer people in support functions needs stronger controls over its automated systems, something DORA and supervisory expectations on AI already require. Demand is therefore shifting towards governance, security and quality assurance roles. For employees in Greek banks and IT suppliers, this makes retraining in AI oversight, data quality and risk control a sensible priority.

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