Barclays Capital reveals expansion plans in Asia, job losses feared in the UK

The investment banking arm of Barclays, Barclays Capital, has revealed it plans to employ 1,500 new staff in Asia, increasing its headcount from 3500 to 5000.

The news follows that from Goldman Sachs, HSBC, Morgan Stanley, UBS and Merrill Lynch, who have all expanded into Asia in the last year.

Research group International Financial Services London, is warning of at least 10,000 job cuts in the City, while headhunter, Armstrong International, is expecting a flood of job losses in the capital in the next few months.

Matthew Osborne of Armstrong International said whilst there have been some small cuts before and just after New Year, I believe we will see a much larger-scale set of redundancies in the coming weeks and months if conditions don’t improve.

However, other headhunters said the City jobs market is holding up well and job losses will be in the low thousands.

Experts are saying the expansion of Barclay Capital into Asia is just further evidence that the balance of financial power is moving East. A standing joke in the City is ‘it’s Mumbai, Shanghai, Dubai, or goodbye.’

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