Barclays restructuring includes 3,700 job cuts, annual savings of $2.6 bn

Barclays today announced that it would axe at least 3,700 jobs and close a business unit in order to reduce annual costs by £1.7 billion ($2.6 billion) as part of the British lender strategic overhaul.

The move comes after the London-based lender was hit with a series of scandals, including a fine of $452 million by the UK and the US regulators for manipulating the London interbank offered rates (Libor) and the Euro interbank offered rate (Euribor), a scandal that forced Marcus Agius, the chairman of Barclays and chief executive, Bob Diamond to resign.

As part of its strategic restructuring, Barclays will reduce headcount by at least 3,700 across the Group in 2013, including 1,800 in the Corporate & Investment Bank and 1,900 in Europe Retail and Business Banking.

The bank said that this is expected to result in a restructuring charge of close to £500 million in Q1 2013.

The cuts have focused on areas where Barclays does not compete globally with other international banks, and in its controversial tax structure, which generated the bulk of the bank's investment banking revenue, while also tarnishing its reputation.

Barclays will also reduce its total cost base by £1.7 billion to £16.8 billion in 2015 and reduce risk-weighted assets under the Basel III rules to £440 billion from about £468 billion.