[ by Larry Goldfarb ]

The Barclays announcement today that is posted a loss of $1.3 Billion and that it was cutting 3,700 jobs is not surprising given the significant problem the bank has suffered in the last few months.  Cleary the bank is reeling from a series of scandals; while the announcement did not mention the revenue side, it is clear that its business has been impacted by the scandals and customers are reticent to engage Barclay's as fully as it did under the Diamond regime.

Specially, Barclays will take a number of actions to try to stop the bleeding:

• In a bid to reduce its exposure to risky trading activity, Barclays plans to close a number of operations in Europe and Asia, including a tax-planning unit that has been criticized for tarnishing the firm's reputation.
• Barclays will close 4 business divisions, while another 17 units will either be closed, sold or pared back in response to subdued market activity.  The investment banking division is to be among the hardest hit, where about 1,800 employees are expected to be laid off. The job cuts will primarily fall on the bank's Asian and European equities divisions, as well as its agricultural commodities trading operations.
• The restructuring plan includes an additional 1,900 job cuts in the bank's European retail and business banking unit, where Barclays plans to close roughly 30 percent of its Continental branch network.

For the financial results:

• For 2012, the bank reported an annual net loss of £1 billion, compared with a £3 billion profit for 2011. The annual loss resulted from provisions to cover legal costs related to the rate-rigging scandal and other improper activities.
• Barclays posted a net loss of £835 million ($1.3 billion) in the last 3 months of 2012, compared with a profit of £356 million in the period a year earlier.
• The investment banking division reported a pretax profit of £858 million in the fourth quarter, compared with a pretax profit of £267 million in the fourth quarter of 2011. Pretax profit at the bank's retail and business banking unit rose 17%, to £732 million, while pretax profit in its corporate banking division almost tripled, to £107 million.