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(adds details of costs cuts across Europe)
By Olivia Oran and Anjuli Davies
NEW YORK/LONDON, Nov 13 (Reuters) - British bank BarclaysPlc has put a freeze on hiring new staff until thestart of next year as it steps up efforts to cut costs and raiseprofitability.
A Barclays spokesman said the hiring freeze had been inplace since late September and was due to be reviewed at thestart of January.
There are exceptions to the freeze, including to fillvacancies for UK branch staff and for some critical positions,as well as vacant positions in low cost locations, the spokesmansaid.
Across Europe, investment banks are retrenching and cuttingcosts as they lose share to U.S. rivals that acted more quicklyafter the global financial crisis to regain profitability.
Wall Street banks are estimated to make an average return onequity (ROE) of 12.4 percent in 2015, versus 8.3 percent fortheir European peers, Morgan Stanley analysts calculate.
Many banks are taking an increasingly hard line on costs inan effort to improve profitability. Barclays is midway through athree year plan to cut costs, which involves shedding 19,000staff, or about 14 percent of its global workforce. (http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/05/08/us-barclays-restructuring-idUSBREA4705B20140508)
John McFarlane has increased the focus on costs after takingover as Barclays chairman in April. The bank's incoming ChiefExecutive Jes Staley, who starts in December, is also expectedto try to find more savings.
Deutsche Bank announced in October it would cut15,000 jobs at Germany's biggest bank, exit 10 countries and cutcosts to less than 22 billion euros by 2018 after splitting itsinvestment bank in two.
That same month, Switzerland's Credit Suisse announced a big restructuring plan under new CEO Tidjane Thiam.
Alongside raising 6 billion Swiss francs from investors,Credit Suisse will cut 1,600 jobs in its home market andrelocate up to 1,800 positions from London where costs areparticularly high.
The Swiss bank this week started a round of 100 job cuts inLondon, predominantly in the fixed income rates and foreignexchange divisions, according to market sources. (Additional reporting by Steve Slater; Editing by RuthPitchford and Mark Potter)
