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Speaking at the bank's annual general meeting (AGM) in London on
Thursday, McFarlane thanked investors for their patience while
Barclays runs down businesses it no longer sees as capable of
generating appropriate returns, against a backdrop of rising
regulatory costs and poor economic conditions.
Following these disposals, which include the sell-down of its 62
percent stake in Barclays Africa, McFarlane said the bank
expected group full-time employees to reduce by around 50,000
people, resulting in a total headcount of 80,000 - almost half
the staff employed at its peak.
The cost savings achieved from these cuts and the refocusing of
the business would enable the bank to reintroduce a "respectable
dividend level" and transform Barclays into a "significantly
smaller, safer" bank, McFarlane said.
"For the past few years, we have produced either negligible
retained profits or losses before dividends. Going forward we
need to reverse this and generate superior returns out of our
franchise," McFarlane said, in his first AGM statement as
chairman.
"However it is worth remembering that we are in the process of
turning around what was recently the largest bank in the world
by assets," he added.
Chief Executive Jes Staley also took time to explain a decision
to sacrifice part of the dividend to fund the revamp, but said
the short-term pain was necessary to put Barclays in a position
to grow payouts over time.
"Investing substantially in this company was one of the first
things I did upon being appointed - and my interests are firmly
aligned with yours," he said.
"However, I believe it is better to move quickly and decisively
to eliminate the drag in this business now than to accept high
levels of attrition on your returns for a much longer time than
is necessary."
Staley also said the bank was working hard to relieve the
pressure on returns from fines for past conduct failings and was
seeking to resolve outstanding issues "as swiftly as possible".
"There will also be no let-up in the critically important work
to transform Barclays' culture," he said.
(Editing by Mark Potter)
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