Barclays will move up to 1800 IT jobs offshore over the next two years to access skills and cost savings around the world.

The bank is expected to send the work to ‘centres of excellence’ in India, Hungary and Singapore.

700 of the jobs will be outsourced by September, with the remaining 1100 due to go by 2010. It is estimated that around 1000 existing Barclays IT jobs will stay in the UK at centres in London and Cheshire.

Barclays says it needs "centrally-managed technologies in centres of excellence in key locations around the world" in order to become a fully global bank.

"These changes are about putting in place the technology and systems to support Barclays in achieving its ambitions," says a statement.