Barclays to axe 19,000 jobs, rein in Wall Street ambitions

Britain's Barclays reined in its ambitions to be a Wall Street powerhouse on Thursday and signaled a return to its retail banking roots with a plan to hive off much of its investment bank and axe one in four jobs at the division.

In his second strategic review, CEO Antony Jenkins plans to cut 19,000 jobs during the next three years, 7,000 of them at the investment bank, according to a Reuters report.

"We will refocus and resize our investment bank to bring balance to Barclays," Jenkins told analysts and investors. "As currently constituted, it is an unacceptable drag."

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