What is Barclays' AI strategy?
Barclays' AI strategy is a productivity and cost plan with named tools behind it. With its third-quarter results on 22 October 2026, the group said its 2026 structural cost actions involve 'an expected reduction of circa 5,000 full-time employees', about 5% of employees, and that 'around 60% of the Group actions relate to support functions, including fewer developers as AI makes our people more productive'; the results presentation describes the outcome as 'organisational simplification and technology change efficiency driven by AI'. The same day the bank said it 'will employ AI at scale' but that 'AI is the icing on the cake, not the cake'. The tools are disclosed: more than 250 AI tools and models in use (February 2026), Microsoft 365 Copilot announced for 100,000 colleagues in June 2025 and used by about 90% of colleagues, with more than one million colleague hours saved in 2025, GitLab Duo for 19,000 developers, and an expanded Anthropic collaboration (1 October 2026) under which Barclays expects Claude Code adoption to reach 50% of its developers by the end of 2026 and a majority of software engineers in 2027. The February 2026 plan names 'Embed AI for productivity, product construction and delivery' as one of three levers, with modernised infrastructure and standardised data, behind a statutory RoTE target above 14% in 2028 and about £2 billion of efficiency savings in 2028 versus 2025. Barclays has not said how many of the 5,000 roles are attributable to AI.[1][2][3][4][5]
Data as of Oct 28, 2026 · Barclays profile updated Oct 26, 2026 · 29 sources cited on this page · 141 banks profiled on this site · Markdown
What has Barclays said about its AI strategy, and when?
| Date | Who / where | What was said or disclosed |
|---|---|---|
| January 8, 2024 | Craig Bright, then Group CIO, Barclays insights article | Analytical AI has long been used to manage risk, including voice recognition for customer security; Barclays is investing in cloud data platforms and data products for generative AI[6] |
| June 9, 2025 | Barclays and Microsoft announcement | Microsoft 365 Copilot to roll out to 100,000 colleagues, integrated into the bank's own colleague productivity tool as a single agent, after an initial deployment to 15,000 colleagues[4] |
| February 10, 2026 | Targets update presentation (C.S. Venkatakrishnan and Anna Cross) | 'Embed AI for productivity, product construction and delivery' set as a lever for 2028; more than 250 AI tools and models in use, including traditional and generative AI; 25x faster model deployment and more than 50% of US Consumer Bank journeys personalised through AI by 2028 as goals[3] |
| February 10, 2026 | Targets update presentation | About 90% of colleagues using Copilot and more than one million colleague hours saved in 2025; 19,000 developers using GitLab Duo with about a 15% uplift in developer productivity; BARXBot FX chatbot answers queries 75% faster[3] |
| October 1, 2026 | Anthropic announcement quoting Group Co-COOs Anne Marie Darling and Craig Bright | Claude Code adoption expected to reach 50% of developers by end-2026 and a majority of software engineers in 2027; Claude powers a Colleague Knowledge Assistant (16,000+ colleagues, 1 million+ searches) and routes about 120,000 Global Markets emails a day[5] |
| October 1, 2026 | Anne Marie Darling, American Banker | Barclays is 'not using the most expensive model, like a Ferrari, to go around the block'; about 70% of core enterprise data standardised[7] |
| October 22, 2026 | Anna Cross, Group Finance Director, Q3 results call | About 5,000 fewer full-time employees from 2026 actions; around 60% of group actions in support functions, 'including fewer developers as AI makes our people more productive'; more than £1.1 billion of gross efficiency savings expected in 2027[1][8] |
| October 22, 2026 | Q3 2026 results presentation | Outcomes of structural cost action spend: c.5,000 FTE (c.5% of employees), c.60% support functions including developers, 'organisational simplification and technology change efficiency driven by AI'; strategy point 'Driving operating leverage, by adopting digital and AI at scale'[2] |
| October 22, 2026 | C.S. Venkatakrishnan, Group Chief Executive, Q3 call Q&A | 'The technology opportunity set has increased and its capability has increased'; 'AI sits on top of this technology'[8] |
What numbers has Barclays put on its AI plan?
| Metric | Value | As of |
|---|---|---|
| AI tools and models in use | More than 250 (traditional and generative AI) | February 10, 2026[3] |
| Microsoft 365 Copilot | Rollout to 100,000 colleagues announced; about 90% of colleagues (of about 95,000 employees) using it by February 2026; more than 1 million colleague hours saved in 2025 | June 9, 2025; February 10, 2026[4][3] |
| GitLab Duo | 19,000 developers; about 15% uplift in developer productivity | February 10, 2026[3] |
| Claude Code adoption (expected) | 50% of developers by end-2026; a majority of software engineers in 2027 | October 1, 2026[5] |
| Model deployment speed (goal) | 25x faster, benchmarked on models for merchant acquiring and corporate card issuing | February 10, 2026[3] |
| Expected full-time employee reduction | About 5,000 (about 5% of employees) from structural cost actions taken in 2026, subject to consultation; about 60% in support functions including developers | October 22, 2026[2][1] |
| Gross efficiency savings | More than £1.1 billion expected in 2027; about £2 billion across the group in 2028 versus 2025 | October 22, 2026; February 10, 2026[1][3] |
| Additional investment | About £0.8 billion across the group in 2028 versus 2025 | February 10, 2026[3] |
| Barclays UK call-centre volumes | Down 10% in the past year, credited to improved customer-facing technology | October 22, 2026[1][8] |
How is Barclays' AI strategy organised and funded, and what has it not disclosed?
There is no chief AI officer. Group Co-Chief Operating Officers Anne Marie Darling and Craig Bright front the large rollouts: both are quoted in Anthropic's October 2026 announcement, and Bright, Group CIO from 2020, co-leads technology, data and cybersecurity. AI risk sits under Model Risk Management, where a Head of AI/ML Risk sets AI risk appetite and leads the Group AI Governance Council, according to the 2025 Form 20-F.[5][9][10]
The plan is multi-vendor. The 20-F names Amazon Web Services, Microsoft, GitLab and Databricks as technology partners for data, digital and AI; Anthropic's Claude runs the colleague knowledge assistant, Global Markets email routing and the Claude Code rollout; and Darling told American Banker the bank is 'not using the most expensive model, like a Ferrari, to go around the block'.[10][5][7]
Funding sits inside the February 2026 plan. On 22 October 2026 Barclays said the investment underpinning AI at scale 'is within the plan we outlined in February and is being made possible by our operating leverage'; the targets update put additional investment at about £0.8 billion in 2028 versus 2025, alongside about £2 billion of efficiency savings.[1][3]
On the Q3 call Anna Cross said the third- and fourth-quarter changes relate 'both to the simplification of the organization and to some of the impacts that we are starting to see from AI', are very large compared with earlier actions and are not necessarily expected to repeat. CNBC reported the cuts as part of 'an artificial intelligence-linked efficiency push'.[8][11]
Not disclosed: how many of the 5,000 roles are attributable to AI rather than other simplification, how many developer roles are affected, a separate AI budget, and the seat count or contract value of the Claude Code and Copilot deployments.[1][2][5]
What does the Barclays profile record on this topic?
The rows below are the entries of the Barclays AI strategy profile that bear on this page, as of Oct 26, 2026; the profile holds the full record of 26 dated moves, 20 use cases and 45 sources.
| Use case | What the record shows | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Microsoft 365 Copilot and colleague agents | A Colleague AI Agent, personalised semantic Content Search and a Colleague Front Door dashboard for 100,000 colleagues; around 90% of colleagues on Copilot by February 2026. | In production | [4][12] |
| Colleague Knowledge Assistant (Claude, retrieval-augmented) | Helps Barclays UK colleagues find answers when supporting more than 20 million UK retail customers; 16,000-plus adopters, over one million searches. | In production | [5][13] |
| Global Markets email triage with Claude | Models classify, enrich and route incoming client emails to the right operations team; about 120,000 emails a day. | In production | [5][14] |
| GitLab Duo and Claude Code for engineers | GitLab rolled out to 19,000 developers; Claude Code expected to reach 50% of developers by end-2026 and a majority of software engineers in 2027. | Rolling out | [12][5][15] |
| Claude for secure engineering and legacy modernisation | Co-COO Craig Bright said the bank is using Claude to help modernise legacy platforms and improve software quality, with agentic AI embedded in how it builds, tests, secures and operates technology. | Rolling out | [5] |
| Date | Move | Detail | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 22, 2026 | About 5,000 job reductions, AI cited for fewer developers | In the third-quarter results call, Group Finance Director Anna Cross said the bank's efficiency actions involve an expected reduction of about 5,000 full-time employees (about 5% of employees), with around 60% of the group's actions relating to support functions, including fewer developers as AI makes staff more productive, and that Barclays expects more than £1.1 billion of gross efficiency savings in 2027. The results slides describe the actions as organisational simplification and technology change efficiency driven by AI. Banking Dive reports about 1,000 of the reductions were made in the first half. | [1][16] |
| Oct 1, 2026 | Co-COO on model choice and agentic AI | American Banker quotes Anne Marie Darling that Barclays is not using the most expensive model to go around the block; it reports about 70% of core enterprise data standardised and more than 250 AI-enabled tools and models introduced. | [7] |
| Oct 1, 2026 | Anthropic collaboration expanded | Claude Code adoption expected to reach 50% of developers by end-2026 and a majority of engineers in 2027; a Claude-powered assistant has 16,000-plus UK users and Claude routes about 120,000 Global Markets emails a day. | [5][14][17][13] |
| Sep 14, 2026 | CEO on AI and workforce training | At the Barclays Global Financial Services Conference, Venkatakrishnan told Bloomberg the firm is training people for different jobs to prepare for a future in which AI increases efficiency. | [18] |
| Jul 28, 2026 | Second-quarter call: technology-led cost actions, AI not itself named | Venkatakrishnan says the businesses are now revolving around technology and cites about £350 million of gross efficiency savings so far in 2026; the interim results announcement mentions AI only in its list of forward-looking risk factors. | [19][20] |
| Jul 28, 2026 | Half-year results: total assets £1,730.4bn | The interim results announcement filed with the SEC reports total assets of £1,730.4bn at 30 June 2026, up from £1,544.2bn at 31 December 2025. | [20] |
| Jun 7, 2026 | CEO on AI call monitoring and jobs | Fortune reports that Venkatakrishnan said Barclays uses AI to monitor calls handled by human customer-service staff, improving efficiency without putting jobs at risk, and cites the February disclosure of more than 8 million calls summarised by generative AI. | [21][22] |
| Apr 17, 2026 | CEO warns on Anthropic's Mythos | Venkatakrishnan said in Washington that Mythos was a serious threat to the global banking system and likely to be followed by similar, more powerful cyberthreats. | [23] |
| Feb 10, 2026 | 2025 results: AI at scale inside a three-year plan | CEO cites 250-plus AI tools and models, BARXBot, GitLab for 19,000 developers, Copilot for around 90% of colleagues and a plan to increase investment twofold; targets RoTE above 14% in 2028. | [12][24][25] |
| Nov 18, 2025 | Barclays joins the Harvard-Microsoft Frontier Firm AI Initiative | Barclays is in the inaugural cohort. The 20-F lists it as a recognition; Microsoft's profile says agents helped migrate a legacy database in 20 days against three months before, and quotes both Co-COOs on AI-enabled service. | [26][27][10] |
| Jun 9, 2025 | Microsoft 365 Copilot for 100,000 colleagues | Barclays and Microsoft announce the rollout, integrated into the bank's colleague productivity tool as a single agent; it follows a deployment to 15,000 colleagues. | [4][28][29] |
Is Barclays cutting jobs because of AI?
Partly, by its own account. On 22 October 2026 Barclays said its 2026 cost actions involve an expected reduction of about 5,000 full-time employees, with around 60% of group actions in support functions 'including fewer developers as AI makes our people more productive'. It has not said how many of the roles are attributable to AI.
How many Barclays developers will use Claude Code?
Barclays expects Claude Code adoption to reach 50% of its developer population by the end of 2026 and a majority of software engineers in 2027, according to Anthropic's 1 October 2026 announcement of the expanded collaboration. Separately, 19,000 developers use GitLab Duo.
How many AI tools does Barclays use?
More than 250 AI tools and models were in use across the group at the February 2026 targets update, a figure that includes traditional and generative AI. Named ones include Microsoft 365 Copilot, GitLab Duo, Claude, the BARXBot FX chatbot and Customer Assist in the US app.
How widely is Microsoft Copilot used at Barclays?
Barclays and Microsoft announced a rollout of Microsoft 365 Copilot to 100,000 colleagues in June 2025, after a first deployment to 15,000. By February 2026 about 90% of colleagues were using Copilot, and Barclays reported more than one million colleague hours saved in 2025.
Who leads AI strategy at Barclays?
Barclays names no chief AI officer. Group Co-Chief Operating Officers Anne Marie Darling and Craig Bright front the Copilot and Claude rollouts, Group Chief Executive C.S. Venkatakrishnan sets the plan, and AI risk sits with a Head of AI/ML Risk under Model Risk Management.
- Barclays PLC Q326 Results Analyst and Investor Conference Call Speech
- Q3 2026 Results Presentation
- FY25 Results and Targets Update presentation
- Barclays to roll out Microsoft 365 Copilot to 100,000 colleagues
- Barclays scales Claude to upgrade operations and improve client experience
- From intelligence to ability: how Barclays is harnessing AI
- The Most Powerful Women in Banking Women to Watch, #24, Anne Marie Darling, Barclays
- Barclays (BCS) Q3 2026 Earnings Call Transcript
- Craig Bright (undated page, retrieved 2026-10-05)
- Barclays PLC Annual Report 2025 on Form 20-F
- Barclays to slash 5,000 jobs in AI efficiency push
- BARCLAYS PLC ORD 25P (BARC.L) Q4 FY2025 earnings call transcript
- Barclays ramps up use of Anthropic's Claude
- Barclays Expands Use of Anthropic's Claude in Efficiency Push
- Scaling AI at Barclays: implementation, efficiency, and the future of customer experience (undated page, retrieved 2026-10-05)
- Barclays to cut 5,000 employees this year
- Barclays Expands Use of Anthropic's Claude in Efficiency Push
- Bloomberg Talks: CS Venkatakrishnan
- Barclays (BCS) Q2 2026 Earnings Call Transcript
- Barclays PLC Interim Results Announcement 30 June 2026 (Form 6-K)
- Banks lay groundwork for mass workforce cuts as AI takes hold
- Barclays harnesses GenAI to deliver world-class customer service
- Banking industry scrambles for Anthropic's Mythos as global regulators review risks
- Barclays PLC Results Announcement, year ended 31 December 2025
- Barclays lifts profit and targets as it looks to US to boost returns
- The HBS AI Institute and Microsoft Launch Accelerated AI Research Initiative
- Meet the inaugural class of the Frontier Firm AI Initiative
- Barclays to roll out Microsoft Co-Pilot to 100,000 staff
- Barclays rolls out Microsoft Copilot to 100,000 employees as AI adoption gathers pace (undated page, retrieved 2026-10-05)
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