Barclays (BARC.L) has confirmed it is cutting around 500 jobs in the Barclays Corporate division.

The global banking group has moved to streamline its employee numbers following the separation of the division from the retail bank around 18 months ago.

Barclays Corporate endured a particularly tricky recession, only creeping into profit in the first quarter of this year by £1 million, compared to a loss of £75 million for the same three months in 2010.

Higher impairment charges in Spain were principally blamed for the ongoing poor performance in the first quarter results, with the European division all but wiping out the profits generated in the UK.

Operations in the rest of the world were also loss-making, with the bank declaring a loss of £15 million for the three months ending March 2011.

Daniel Hunter, spokesman for Barclays Corporate, said, ‘As part of the ongoing transformation of Barclays Corporate, we are making some changes to our business in order to optimise growth opportunities and control costs.

‘Regrettably, this means a slight reduction in our UK workforce.’

Barclays Corporate is a specialist division which focusses on corporate banking for businesses with a turnover in excess of £5 million. It employed 11,900 staff before today’s announcement.

Barclays’ share price was up this morning, trading up 0.92 per cent at 273.8 pence as at 1030hrs.