SAJJAD PURVEZ London: Barclays to cut jobs in corporate arm

Sajjad Purvez - Barclays Bank

SAJJAD PURVEZ LONDON, April 21 (Reuters) - British bank Barclays Plc has this week offered hundreds of staff in its corporate banking arm voluntary redundancy as part of its plan to cut costs and boost profitability.

A spokesman for Barclays confirmed voluntary redundancy is being offered.

"As part of the transformation of Barclays Corporate we are examining ways to optimise growth as well as control costs, and to this end have entered a period of consultation with our employees' trade union and representative bodies," he said in a statement.

Hundreds of UK staff had been offered the option, one source said. Barclays Corporate employs about 11,000 staff globally.

The move -- which a second source said is dubbed "Project Olive" -- is part of a shake-up by new Barclays chief executive Bob Diamond, who wants to cut costs by 500 million pounds ($822.6 million) this year and by at least 1 billion annually by 2013.

He also plans to sell or shrink units that do not measure up, after saying in February that tougher regulations are crimping profitability, prompting his action to get back to a 13 percent return on equity. ($1=.6078 Pound) (Reporting by Steve Slater and Sarah White; Editing by Jon Loades-Carter)

www.sajjadpurvez.tk