FIRST-quarter profit at Barclays fell 25% as it was hit by the costs of its new chief executive's restructuring plan, although bonus costs remain stubbornly high despite the reforms.

Barclays reported that adjusted pre-tax profit for the three months to March 31 dropped to £1.79 billion, some £60 million less than investors had expected, and down from £2.4bn a year ago.

Earnings were hit by £514m in costs from chief executive Antony Jenkins's "Transform" project.

Excluding this, profits would have been up 6%, the bank said.

Barclays' investment bank continues to dominate, delivering a profit of £1.3bn in the first quarter, up 11% on the year.

"These are good results," Mr Jenkins said. "We have made a strong start to our Transform programme."

Mr Jenkins wants to cut £1.7bn from Barclays' annual running costs and slash staff numbers by at least 3700.

The London-based bank is a large employer in Glasgow, where it has a major back office unit employing about 2200 people, with others at 22 branches and five corporate banking offices across Scotland. But cuts are focused on its investment bank and branches on the continent and in Asia.

"I do feel we are on target in rebalancing compensation across the group," Mr Jenkins said. "We are on track with the commitments that we made."

He indicated that further changes to Barclays' top team is unlikely. Speaking days after the bank announced the retirement of controversial investment banking chief Rich Ricci, he said: "I am very comfortable with the team I have in place to take it (Barclays) forward."