Barclays PLC has become the latest big European bank to scale down its fixed-income workforce after letting go of several salespeople and traders in Japan, insiders told Bloomberg News.
The reductions follow similar moves by Société Générale SA and Deutsche Bank AG amid a low interest rate environment that has been hurting investment banking results, the Sept. 10 report noted. The ECB is unlikely to hike rates any time soon, while Japan has been keeping its rates low for years, Bloomberg added.
Barclays' investment banking division has been a target of activist investor Edward Bramson, who is pushing for a reform of the unit that entails scaling down operations. Bramson sought to become a board member of the group but failed.
