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LONDON, Jan 29 (Reuters) - Barclays is planning toshut 400 UK branches, or a quarter of its network, as part ofthe bank's plan to cut costs, the Financial Times said onWednesday.
Chief Executive Antony Jenkins is due to lay out a finalphase of his overhaul plan in two weeks and set new targets onhow staff conduct themselves as he tries to improve culturefollowing a string of industry scandals.
He is expected to put renewed focus on costs, andWednesday's Financial Times said he would axe 400 of its 1,600UK branches, without citing sources.
Barclays declined to comment.
Jenkins aims to cut 1.7 billion pounds ($2.8 billion) inannual costs and has previously said thousands of jobs arelikely to go as technology improves efficiency. The bank iscutting several hundred jobs in its investment bank, a personfamiliar with the matter said on Tuesday.
Barclays and other UK banks such as Lloyds and RBS are expected to pare their branch networks as customersincreasingly use internet and mobile platforms and lenders tryto raise profitability.
Barclays is trialling smaller sites in Asda supermarkets, which could replace some traditional branches.
The Sunday Telegraph this week said Barclays could cut 400UK branches and 40,000 staff, but said that would be over sixyears, citing sources at the bank.
"The banking industry is going through what I like to call a100-year transformation," Jenkins said last week in Davos.
He plans to set out eight commitments at annual results onFeb. 11 for Barclays to achieve by 2018. This comes a year afterhe set out a strategic overhaul - dubbed "Project Transform" -which involved axing 3,700 jobs, pruning the investment bank andshutting nearly one in three branches in continental Europe.
Jenkins last week said the eight commitments would form "thelast piece in this big transformation" he is making at the bank.
