LONDON: Global banks are in the process of cutting at least 5,000 jobs as profits at lucrative investment banking units come under pressure from volatility in capital markets and fast-rising interest rates, according to a Reuters tally of reported cuts.
Rapidly deteriorating economic conditions have also prompted lenders to build rainy-day funds to brace for potential defaults. The following major banks have announced or been reported to be making job cuts:
BARCLAYS
Barclays cut its workforce in corporate and investment banking by under 3%, a source told Reuters on November 8, weeks after reporting a 45% slump in merger advisory fees.
The British investment bank has performed well in recent quarters, especially in fixed income trading, but a blunder in the United States that saw it sell more securities than permitted has cost it hundreds of millions of dollars in penalties.
CITIGROUP
Citi eliminated dozens of jobs across its investment banking division, as a dealmaking slump continues to weigh on Wall Street's biggest banks, Bloomberg News reported on November 8.
The US lender has, like its peers, boosted its lending income as interest rates rise, but the aggressive action by the Federal Reserve and other central banks has sparked fears of a downturn that could hit banks' loan books in time.
CREDIT SUISSE
Credit Suisse is accelerating cost cuts, Chairman Axel Lehmann said on December 2, confirming a Reuters report, as the bank races to slash its cost base by around 2.5 billion Swiss francs ($2.68 billion).
Credit Suisse had already said it would lay off some staff. The cost savings reported are likely to involve more job cuts than previously announced for the first wave of reductions, including in its wealth business, Reuters reported.
The bank is cutting about 5% of its private banking headcount in Hong Kong, two sources said.
DEUTSCHE BANK
Deutsche Bank, Germany's largest bank, cut staff in its investment bank's origination and advisory teams in October, in a move than affected mostly junior bankers.
The cuts included dozens of staff in New York and London, Reuters reported.
GOLDMAN SACHS
Goldman Sachs began laying off staff on Jan. 11 in a sweeping cost-cutting drive, with around a third of those affected coming from the investment banking and global markets division, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters.
Just over 3,000 employees will be let go, the source, who could not be named, said on January 9. A separate source confirmed on January 11 that cuts had started.
The long-expected jobs cull at the Wall Street titan is expected to represent the biggest contraction in headcount since the financial crisis.
HSBC
Under pressure from his biggest shareholder, China's Ping An Insurance Group, to improve profit, HSBC Chief Executive Noel Quinn has in recent months accelerated plans to shrink its global empire and streamline its management.
Reuters reported HSBC is shedding at least 200 senior managers as it prunes the ranks of chief operating officers it has across an array of country and business lines.
The bank also announced it is selling its Canadian business for $10 billion, removing around 4,000 employees from its wage bill in a stroke. It also announced on November 30 the sale of its much smaller New Zealand business, and the closure of a further 114 branches in Britain, leaving it with around a third of the outlets it had as recently as 2016.
MORGAN STANLEY
In December, the investment bank slashed about 2% of its workforce, a source familiar with the company's plans told Reuters. The cuts reportedly affect about 1,600 positions.
Morgan Stanley is making modest job cuts worldwide, Chief Executive James Gorman said at the Reuters NEXT conference on December 1, without giving numbers.
Reuters had on November 3 reported layoffs were coming at Morgan Stanley, with dealmakers in its Hong Kong and mainland China businesses among those affected, as strict Chinese lockdown rules weighed on activity. Sources said the cuts would go beyond usual attrition.
WELLS FARGO & CO
The lender slashed hundreds of jobs in its mortgage business across the United States, Bloomberg News reported in December, citing people familiar with the bank's plans.
"We regularly review and adjust staffing levels to align with market conditions and the needs of our businesses," the bank had said in an emailed statement to Reuters at the time, without giving any details on the number of employees or units affected. -- Reuters
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