Barclays aims Claude Code at half its developers by year-end

Barclays is expanding its use of Anthropic’s Claude AI models across the bank to speed up software development, modernize old systems and make operations more efficient, Anthropic said Thursday in an announcement that quotes two Barclays executives.

The coding goal. Barclays expects adoption of Claude Code, Anthropic’s AI coding tool, to reach 50% of its developers by the end of 2026, rising to a majority of its software engineers in 2027, according to the announcement. It does not say how many developers Barclays has. Craig Bright, a group co-chief operating officer at Barclays, said the bank is using Claude “to help modernize legacy platforms, improve software quality, and allow our technical experts to focus on the most complex challenges.”

What’s already running. Anthropic says more than 16,000 Barclays UK employees have adopted the bank’s Colleague Knowledge Assistant, a Claude-powered tool that helps staff find answers when supporting customers. It says the tool has been live since 2025 and has handled more than 1 million searches. In Barclays’ Global Markets business, Claude models sort and route incoming client emails, and the system handles about 120,000 emails a day, the announcement says.

The pitch. “Claude now helps 16,000 Barclays’ colleagues find answers for customers, sorts 120,000 emails a day, and will be in the hands of most Barclays engineers by 2027,” said Paul Smith, Anthropic’s chief commercial officer. The announcement says Barclays applies governance, security controls and human oversight to its AI uses. It gives no financial terms.

— Rowan Keel