Barclays Expands Use of Anthropic’s Claude in Efficiency Push

(Bloomberg) -- Barclays Plc is widening its use of Anthropic PBC's artificial intelligence agent Claude in an effort to modernize legacy systems and improve operational efficiency across the bank.

The British lender expects 50% of its software developers to be using Claude Code by the end of 2026 before broadening that further next year, the two firms said in a joint statement on Thursday. Barclays' markets business is already using Anthropic models to help streamline how client inquiries are processed and managed, and the platform handles approximately 120,000 emails each day.

"By reducing time spent on routine activities and streamlining decision-making, we can enable colleagues to focus their expertise where it matters most, solving more complex problems, accelerating innovation, and delivering better outcomes," Anne Marie Darling, group co-chief operating officer at Barclays, said in the statement.

The financial sector has been one of the early adopters of AI, which Morgan Stanley estimates may enable European banks to reduce their headcounts by as much as a fifth over the "shorter term." Announcing new targets in February, Barclays said it will make efficiency savings of about £2 billion ($2.7 billion), including through the use of AI.

Anthropic is trying to get more enterprise customers as the AI developer prepares for a blockbuster public listing. In finance, however, Anthropic is facing increased competition from OpenAI and Google, which are also targeting investment banks, asset managers and hedge funds.

ExodusPoint Capital Management said earlier this week said that it's working with the San Francisco-based company to expand the use of Claude across its operations. Others that have partnered with Anthropic include Millennium Management and Man Group Plc.