Barclays shares fall 2.3% in London as earnings miss expectations
Key Facts
Barclays shares fell 2.3% in London on October 22, 2026, after the bank reported quarterly earnings below expectations and plans to cut jobs, according to Reuters. The bank's third-quarter pretax profit rose 12% from the same period a year earlier, but the increase left it short of the consensus estimate compiled by the bank. Pretax profit totaled £2.32 billion in the quarter, according to Dow Jones, citing the reported results. Expectations had pointed to profit of £2.42 billion, leaving the actual result below forecasts despite the year-on-year improvement. The decline came in the results-day session with the bank's shares down 14% since the start of the year, according to the Reuters report published the same day.
Across its businesses, Barclays' investment bank income totaled £3.1 billion in the third quarter, against expectations of £3.3 billion, according to Reuters. Revenue from fixed-income, currency and commodity trading fell 19% year on year to £1.01 billion, according to Dow Jones, marking one of the main weak spots in the quarterly results. The chief executive attributed the performance to "volatility during the quarter and weak trading in interest-rate and credit products in particular," according to Reuters. By contrast, equities trading revenue rose 47% from the same quarter a year earlier, according to Investing.com, highlighting the divergence between the bank's trading businesses. Growth in equities was underpinned by previous investments in prime brokerage and equity derivatives, businesses that supported this part of its trading performance during the third quarter.
Barclays announced a £500 million share buyback alongside its third-quarter results on October 22, according to Dow Jones. The program fell short of the bank-compiled consensus forecast of £579 million, extending the disappointment against estimates to the buyback as well as pretax profit. Chief Financial Officer Anna Cross had previously discussed the pace of returning capital to shareholders during the second-quarter earnings call, according to the transcript published on Investing.com. She said at the time that the aim was to "get distributions into shareholders' hands faster," explaining the bank's approach to the timing of those payments. Cross linked faster distributions to shareholders with the shift to quarterly share buybacks, providing the context for the program announced with the latest results.
On costs, Barclays plans to eliminate about 5,000 jobs during 2026, according to Reuters, citing the bank's announced plan. That represents 5% of its workforce, as part of measures aimed at reducing fixed costs and improving returns. The bank is using technology and artificial intelligence to carry out this strategy, linking changes in working practices to a reduction in jobs during the year. Chief Financial Officer Anna Cross said about 60% of the total job cuts would affect staff in support roles, according to Reuters via Investing.com. The support roles affected by the cuts include developers, according to Cross, placing those positions within the scope the bank has set for its workforce reduction plan.
Barclays booked an additional £201 million in the third quarter as part of structural cost-cutting measures, according to Reuters' coverage of the results announcement. Cross said 1,000 jobs had already been eliminated by the October 22 announcement, representing the completed portion of the workforce reduction plan. The next phase involves eliminating a further 4,000 jobs, according to the chief financial officer, to complete the cuts announced by the bank during the year. Cross set the end of the fourth quarter of 2026 as the deadline for implementing these additional cuts, according to her remarks reported by Reuters. Barclays also expects to book additional charges of about £300 million in the fourth quarter as part of its cost-cutting measures, according to Investing.com, as it completes the next phase of the plan.