Barclays is planning on cutting jobs at its Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) equities division in an effort to scale back costs.

Around a tenth of the employees at the EMEA equites unit, which employs over 500 people, are at risk of losing their jobs, according to Bloomberg on Friday afternoon.

The cuts, directed at sales people, traders and support staff, are thought to be an attempt to mitigate the impact of falling trading volumes and profitability experienced at equity businesses across Europe.

The first of the departures are said to be taking place this week, the news agency said, citing two unidentified people close to the matter.

Meanwhile, Marc Hazelton, a spokesman for the bank said: "We can confirm that we have begun a consultation process within our EMEA equities franchise. [...] We continue to hire selectively across those parts of the business that are growing."

Barclays's shares were trading in the red from the off in London on Friday, weighed down by last night's revelation that it had put aside a further £700m in provisions to deal with Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) claims.

The extra £700m brings the total level of PPI provisions (from 2011 and 2012 so far) to £2bn.

Barclays is due to release its third-quarter trading statement on October 31st, in which it is expected to announce a group adjusted profit before tax of £1.7m for the three months to September 30th, in line with market consensus. This excludes the impact of own credit (expected to be a charge of £1.1bn) and the provision of PPI redress.

The stock was down 2.01% at 235.85p by 14:18.

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