BARCLAYS CUTS HUNDREDS OF JOBS IN LONDON AND ASIA

Barclays wielded the axe across a majority of London jobs

Barclays cut hundreds of jobs across London and Asia over the last month.

Sources close to Barclays told Business Insider that staff had been either fired or made redundant mainly across the lender's IT functions for the investment bank in London in February.

They add that IT services units, for the markets related teams, were hit the hardest.

This is because Barclays wants to reduce the size of its investment bank unit as well as streamline the company's fragmented group of support functions.

While some staff were "naturally" cut through performance related reviews, some employees were let go due to Barclays' upfront plan to downsize and reshape the group's structure.

Another source said, though, that job cuts are minimal in Asia, compared to London, as most of the reduction in the workforce in that region was already completed in 2014.

Barclays declined to comment on Business Insider's findings.

The reduction in the workforce comes just before Barclays reports its full year results for 2014, on March 3.

On May 8 2014, Barclays revealed it would be cutting 19,000 people out of its workforce by 2016. Around 7,000 were pegged to be borne from investment part of the bank. "This is a bold simplification of Barclays," said Antony Jenkins, CEO of Barclays on May 8 in a statement. "We will be a focused international bank, operating only in areas where we have capability, scale and competitive advantage."

As of last year, Barclays employed 26,000 people in its investment part of the business while 38,000 worked in retail banking.

The latest workforce numbers will be confirmed in Barclays' incoming results.

London and Asia were also targeted as places to prune positions as the bank refocuses some of its efforts in burgeoning emerging markets, such as Africa.

Globally, 2,500 jobs are set to be cut this year and a further 2,500 in 2016.

Business Insider