Britain's troubled Barclays bank will axe at least 3,700 jobs this year, it announced on Tuesday after revealing that it plunged into the red in 2012 amid the notorious Libor rate-rigging crisis. The lender said in a statement that it would "reduce headcount by at least 3,700 across the group, including 1,800 in the Corporate & Investment Bank and 1,900 in Europe Retail and Business Banking." Barclays employs 140,000 staff.

Barclays said on Tuesday it intended to cut at least 3,700 jobs this year and the bank, hit by the Libor rate-rigging scandal, added that it had plunged into an annual net loss. Barclays said it in a statement that it would "reduce headcount by at least 3,700 across the group, including 1,800 in the Corporate & Investment Bank and 1,900 in Europe Retail and Business Banking." Barclays employs 140,000 staff. The bank reported a loss after tax of £1.04 billion ($1.63 billion, 1.22 billion euros) for 2012 compared with a net profit of £3.0 billion in 2011.

Troubled British bank Barclays is set to axe annual costs by £2.0 billion ($3.1 billion, 2.3 billion euros) and cut 2,000 investment bank jobs, media reports said Monday on the eve of its 2012 results. The Financial Times newspaper, which cited bank insiders and analysts, said that the cuts -- equivalent to ten percent of the group's cost base -- would focus on a retrenchment of investment bank operations particularly in Asia. The scandal-hit lender will also announce a partial wind-down of retail and commercial banking in parts of Europe, such as Italy.

State-rescued Royal Bank of Scotland will pay fines totalling $612 million (453 million euros) to US and British regulators to settle allegations of Libor interest rate rigging, it announced on Wednesday. RBS, which is 81-percent owned by the government, said it has agreed to pay the equivalent of £391 million to regulators, becoming the third bank to admit its part in the Libor affair after British rival Barclays and Swiss lender UBS.