Barclays prepares to cut jobs at investment bank arm

Barclays bank is preparing to cut jobs at the bank's investment arm in the wake of the Libor rate-rigging scandal, the British lender said on Tuesday. Staff were informed that a consultation process had been launched to identify potential cuts at the division employing 9,000 staff, with a formal announcement expected next month when the British bank publishes its annual results. "This exercise is being carried out so that we can start to effect some of the strategic changes as a consequence of the Transform review of Barclays business, the outcomes of which will be announced on the 12th of February," Barclays said in a statement. "Transform is explicitly intended to optimise the entire Barclays business and to accelerate our already strong performance. The changes planned for the Investment Bank are wholly consistent with that intent," the bank added. Last week, Barclays bank chief executive Antony Jenkins ordered employees to sign up to a new ethical code of conduct or quit, as he seeks to draw a line under last year's damaging Libor affair. Barclays slumped into crisis last June when it was fined £290 million ($470 million, 363 million euros) by British and US regulators for attempted manipulation of Libor and Euribor interbank rates between 2005 and 2009. The scandal sparked the resignations of three Barclays senior board members, including ex-chief executive Bob Diamond. He was replaced by Jenkins, who was formerly head of retail and business banking. The Libor system was found to be open to abuse, with some traders lying about borrowing costs to boost trading positions or make their bank seem more secure