A new report from the Financial Times shows twenty of the world's largest banks slashed 61,905 jobs in 2023, a move to protect profit margins in a period of high interest rates amid a slump in dealmaking and equity and debt sales. This compared with the 140,000 lost during the GFC of 2007-08.
BONY & JPM made the list. NT did not make the list but follows same trend.
This number forecast to increase in 2024/2025.
Morgan Stanley reduced jobs by 4,800, Bank of America by 4,000, Goldman Sachs by 3,200, and JPMorgan Chase by 1,000. As a whole, Wall Street cut 30,000 workers this year.
"There is no stability, no investment, no growth in most banks — and there are likely to be more job cuts," said Lee Thacker, owner of financial services headhunting firm Silvermine Partners.
FT noted that corporate disclosure data and its independent reporting did not include smaller regional bank cuts, indicating total job loss could be much higher.
"The revenues aren't there, so this is partly a response to overexpansion. But there is also a simpler explanation: political cost-cutting," said Thacker.
Gaurav Arora, global head of competitor analytics at Coalition, warned: "We expect full-year 2024 to be a continuation of the story of 2023."
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