Banking giant axes 2,100 jobs in investment arm.

Byline: Iain Laing

BANKING giant Barclays is to cut 2,100 jobs in its investment arm, sources close to the company said.

The redundancies represent a 7% reduction in staff numbers in the Investment Banking and Investment Management (IBIM) division across the globe, which includes the Barclays Capital, Barclays Global Investors and Barclays Wealth businesses.

A spokesman for the firm said: "We can confirm that we have begun a consultation process to reduce headcount across some parts of IBIM to ensure that we are appropriately sized given the current market conditions."

He said the job cuts would be global and figures for UK redundancies were unavailable.

Barclays' retail arm, which includes commercial banking and Barclaycard, is not affected by the cuts.

Redundancies at IBIM will be felt across all parts of the business and apply to both front and back office staff.

The spokesman said: "We will continue to hire selectively across those parts of the business that are growing."

Unite said 500 jobs would be lost in the UK, accusing Barclays of a strategy of death by a thousand cuts.

The union accused the bank of failing to give workers the full picture of plans for future employment levels.

Deputy general secretary Graham Goddard said: "We have stressed to the bank that they should come clean with their staff in order to reassure them that they will not be the next victim of the bank's strategy of death by a thousand cuts."

Unite said just last week Barclays announced 400 job losses in its IT departments in London and Cheshire.

About 1,300 jobs are expected to be cut at Barclays Capital, with Barclays Wealth and Barclays Global Investors losing around 500 and 330 staff respectively. All three IBIM companies have offices in the UK.

The source said part of the consultation process would be to look at where the jobs would go.

News of the cuts comes after reports that the merger of banking giants Merrill Lynch and Bank of America is to result in as many as 2,000 UK redundancies.

The banks are preparing to cut 30% of their combined London-based staff over the next few months, although job losses are already being seen in some departments.

The cuts reportedly come as part of a plan announced by Bank of America last month to reduce the combined global workforce by around 30,000 to 35,000 over the next three years.

Banks have slashed staff numbers as they struggle to shrink those parts of their business worst-hit by the financial crisis, particularly investment banking.

Barclays shunned a taxpayer bailout by the UK Government in the wake of the crisis, instead raising more than pounds 7bn through fund-raising.