Barclays to axe 1,100 staff in UK

Barclays employs 123,000 workers worldwide

Barclays Bank has announced it will be cutting 1,100 workers over the next three years.

The bank said it was shedding the staff at its offices in Poole, Dorset, as part of an efficiency drive.

Barclays currently employs about 1,900 people at the site, which handles back-office functions such as payment processing and IT support.

The group added that the cuts were not related to its $91bn (£45.7bn) proposed takeover of Dutch bank ABN Amro.

Barclays, which employs 123,000 people across the world, said it was hoping to cut costs by automating many tasks, such as payment processing.

Unions voiced concern at the bank's decision, but said they would be working with Barclays to ensure as many staff as possible were redeployed or took voluntary redundancy.

However, the union Unite added that it welcomed the news that Barclays would be moving to a new, smaller building in the area, so ending speculation it would leave Poole altogether.