(Reuters) – Barclays Plc has cut its workforce in corporate and investment banking (CIB), according to a person familiar with the matter, joining rivals who also took similar steps to rein in costs as deals plunged from records set last year.
Investment bankers were awash with deals in 2021, but have seen few this year as companies halt buyouts and listings amid volatility in the capital markets, tensions between the United States and China, and the Russia-Ukraine war.
As a result, premier banks including Goldman Sachs Group and Deutsche bank felt compelled to cut their workforce in mergers and acquisitions (M&A).
Citigroup Inc also eliminated dozens of jobs across its investment banking division, Bloomberg News reported on Tuesday.
The cuts at Barclays account for less than 3% of their headcount in investment banking, according to the source. Barclays declined to comment when contacted by Reuters.
The move, which was earlier reported by Bloomberg, comes two weeks after the British bank reported a 45% slump in advisory fees from M&A in the third quarter that was softened by a powerhouse performance in fixed income, currencies and commodities (FICC) business..
(Reporting by Mehnaz Yasmin in Bengaluru and Anirban Sen in New York; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)