In its latest effort to break with the legacy of its former chief executive, the British bank Tuesday presented a three-year strategy that will see the scandal-plagued lender cut 3,700 jobs and rein in some of Mr. Diamond's boldest expansion plans. "Barclays is changing…there will be no going back to the old way of doing things," current Chief Executive Antony Jenkins said while standing on a white stage in a hall several miles from the group's London headquarters. "I've been very clear that we have to run this business in a way that delivers for customers and clients." He committed to keeping the investment bank, which contributes more than half of group earnings, and did not go as far as rivals such as UBS or RBS in cutbacks in this area. Investors applauded the bank's plans to raise its dividend and cut 1.7 billion pounds ($2.7 billion) in annual costs, including eliminating 1,800 jobs in corporate and investment banking and 1,900 in its European retail and business banking. Barclays also revealed that its compensation ratio - staff pay as a proportion of net revenues - had fallen from 42% to 38%. Barclays shares surged to close up 8.6 percent at 327.35 pence, their highest level for two years and helping pull the European bank index up 2 percent. The average bonus it paid last year fell 13% to £13,300, while the average bonus paid to staff at its investment bank fell 17% to £54,100. The overall bonus pool, though down by 14% from 2011, still amounted to £1.85bn. 'Legacy issues' 
 
 Mr Jenkins said in his review that he planned to focus investment in the UK, the US and Africa, while reducing the bank's presence in continental Europe and Asia. Jenkins will scale back the investment bank's equities and advisory businesses in continental Europe and Asia. Barclays has been rocked by the Libor and mis-selling scandals and Mr Jenkins, who replaced Bob Diamond as chief executive in August, has pledged to transform the banking group. Its bill, meanwhile, to compensate customers for mis-sold products has hit 3.5 billion pounds, and investigations are continuing into whether it correctly disclosed fundraisings from Middle East investors. Barclays also reported a plunge in pre-tax profit to £246m in 2012, from £5.9bn in 2011, after setting aside compensation for mis-sold products and a loss on the value of its own debt. Its adjusted pretax profit for 2012 was 7.05 billion pounds, up 26 percent on the year and in line with the average forecast by analysts, and the bank said it had a good January.
– Barclays is set to cut some 3,700 jobs amid an operations overhaul, it announced today. Coming out of a strategic review, the company is looking to cut costs by some $2.7 billion, the BBC reports. Nearly half the job cuts will occur at Barclays' investment bank, mostly in Asia. Meanwhile, the firm will concentrate operations in three locations: the US, UK, and Africa, the Wall Street Journal reports. Its European retail banking will begin to focus on wealthy clients. The move comes as the company attempts to clean up its image after the Libor and other scandals. Related charges meant the bank saw a pre-tax profit last year of some $385 million, compared to $9.2 billion the year before, Reuters notes. "We intend to change what Barclays does and how we do it," CEO Anthony Jenkins said in a statement. "It will take years before people change their impression of us," he noted. But "I'm not daunted by that."