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By Steve Slater
LONDON, Sept 10 (Reuters) - The boss of Barclays said new technology is ready to transform the experience of bankcustomers and help his British lender deliver almost half itsplanned annual cost savings of 1.7 billion pounds ($2.7billion).
Barclays Chief Executive Antony Jenkins on Tuesday saidoperations and technology improvements should deliver 800million pounds of savings in the next three years.
"This is now the time when we finally see technologycreating a different sort of banking experience," Jenkins saidat a banking conference in New York, via webcast.
New technology can allow banks to process transactions moreefficiently and offer customers better access to servicesthrough mobile devices.
"There's a massive opportunity to create a much bettercustomer and client experience at structurally lower cost, withbetter control and quality.
"Our industry has been so far behind on this, because we'vehad 20 good years where revenues were growing all the time," hesaid.
Jenkins is attempting to transform Barclays by shuttingunprofitable areas, axing at least 3,700 jobs and pruning itsinvestment bank to rebuild the bank's reputation and boostprofitability after a series of scandals.
His plan, unveiled in February, aims to deliver 1.7 billionpounds of annual savings by 2015. A breakdown of cuts announcedon Tuesday showed 700 million pounds of savings will from thefront office and 200 million from functions such as humanresources, finance and risk.
The plan will cost 2.7 billion pounds to implement, andJenkins said 1.4 billion pounds of that will be in retailbanking. He said 600 million pounds of the costs will be in itsinvestment bank arm, 400 million will be in wealth managementand the remaining 300 million is in corporate banking.
The breakdown of the spending is aimed at "rightsizing,industrialisation and innovation" the bank.
Barclays was last month forced to announce plans to raise5.8 billion pounds from shareholders to help plug alarger-than-expected capital shortfall identified by Britain'sfinancial regulator.
Jenkins said economic conditions remain tough and there willbe no quick return to the era of strong growth, but said he wasconfident there will be clarity on the major regulatory issuesover the next two years.
"The period of greatest uncertainty for our investors interms of regulatory risk and legacy challenges is starting topass," he said.
The bank is expected to launch the prospectus for its rightsissue on Monday. ($1 = 0.6361 British pounds)
