Barclaycard allays fears for Northampton headquarters after CEO claims 'big offices may be thing of the past'

Barclaycard says comments by its CEO that 'big offices may be a thing of the past' after the lockdown does not mean anything for the future of Northampton's Brackmills office.

The bank's boss Jes Staley made headlines yesterday when he claimed that "putting 7,000 people in [a] building may be a thing of the past" after the lockdown.

He claimed his company was currently being run by staff "working from their kitchens" and this was now influencing "a long-term adjustment to [Barclays'] location strategy."

Today (April 30), Barclaycard has said the comments do not necessarily have any bearing on offices like Northampton's Brackmills headquarters - and even said they might be "more resilient" compared to skyscrapers in Canary Wharf.

A spokeswoman told the Chronicle & Echo: "These comments don’t change the importance of strategic sites like Northampton.

"In some respects, our campus sites offer more resilience, in terms of our ability to implement social distancing.”

The Brackmills site - which employs over 3,000 people - sees hundreds of commuters from across Northamptonshire and bordering counties come to work in the town.

Thousands of its employees are working at home during the coronavirus lockdown. Barclaycard did not comment on if it had a strategy to bring people back to the office when the lockdown is lifted.

It came as Barclays warned the pandemic could cost it some £2.1bn due to customers being unable to repay loans.

Mr Staley said it was 're-evaluating' how much office space it needed since the impact of the coronavirus.