Artificial Intelligence
Barclays expands Claude across bank operations
Barclays said it was widening its use of Anthropic’s Claude across operations, software development and customer support, while setting targets for developer adoption and citing existing internal tools already in use.
- Barclays said it was extending its work with Anthropic to use Claude across its global operations.
- The bank said Claude Code should reach 50% of its developer population by the end of 2026 and a majority of software engineers in 2027.
- Its Colleague Knowledge Assistant had been live since 2025, had been used by more than 16,000 colleagues and had handled over one million searches.
- Barclays said Claude models were helping process about 120,000 emails each day in its Global Markets business.
- The bank said it applied governance, security controls and human oversight to its AI use cases.
Barclays said it was broadening its collaboration with Anthropic to use Claude across the bank. It said the system would help with software development, older technology systems and day-to-day efficiency, and that Claude Code use should reach half of its developers by the end of 2026.
Anne Marie Darling, Barclays’ group co-chief operating officer, said the aim was to improve work for customers, clients and colleagues. Craig Bright, the other group co-chief operating officer, said the bank was using AI in building, testing, securing and running technology.
Barclays said its Colleague Knowledge Assistant had been in service since 2025 and was powered by Claude through a retrieval-augmented generation setup. The bank said more than 16,000 employees had used it and that it had processed over one million searches.
In Barclays’ Global Markets business, Claude models were being used to sort, enrich and route incoming emails. The bank said the system handled about 120,000 emails a day and reduced manual handling.
Paul Smith, Anthropic’s chief commercial officer, said the rollout was a milestone in the UK and that Barclays was using Claude with strong security and oversight. He said the bank expected most of its engineers to have access to the system by 2027.
Named in this story
People
- Anne Marie Darling
- said the bank wanted better customer and colleague outcomes
- Craig Bright
- said AI was changing software engineering and cyber security at Barclays
- Paul Smith
- said the rollout showed Barclays held AI to a high standard
Companies
- Barclays
- expanded its collaboration with Anthropic and was rolling Claude across the bank
- Anthropic
- supplied Claude and described the rollout as a milestone
Organisations
- Barclays UK
- used the Colleague Knowledge Assistant for employee support
- Barclays' Global Markets business
- used Claude models to handle incoming client emails
Products and systems
- Claude
- was the AI system being deployed across Barclays
- Claude Code
- was expected to reach half of Barclays developers by the end of 2026
- Barclays’ Colleague Knowledge Assistant
- helped employees find information for customer support
How the source tells it
The piece read as a corporate announcement, with promotional claims from both companies and repeated assurances about governance and security.
- vendor boosterism It relied on the companies’ own claims about scale, impact and future adoption without outside verification.
- reassurance It repeatedly stressed secure deployment, strong oversight and human control.
- hype It framed the rollout as a transformation of work and a fundamental improvement to technology operations.