It’s that time of year when banks decide they can’t afford some of the people on their books. Our survey suggests the people most fearful about this happening to them are in cash equities sales and trading, which is strange because so far the job cuts seem to be elsewhere.
At most banks, the latest round of cuts is focused mostly on feeble investment banking divisions, while Goldman Sachs has decided its loss-making consumer division is too big and Credit Suisse is still throwing people out in credit.
In many cases, the numbers are still small. At Morgan Stanley, for example, last week’s 1,600 job cuts have reportedly manifested as just 12 investment banking cuts in London, many of them junior, although there are also some MDs in the mix (eg. Alessandro Mazza in leveraged finance is out). Financial News reports that four of the unwanted individuals are in ECM. A few others are in Benelux M&A.
At Citi, Reuters reports that up to 50 investment banking jobs are going across EMEA. The cuts are mostly expected at director and MD level. This follows “dozens” of job cuts globally in November.
At Credit Suisse, we’re hearing strong reports of ongoing trimming in the credit sales and trading business, both in London and New York. We’ll keep you updated as things progress.
And at Goldman Sachs, Marc Nachmann has set to work after being appointed head of the combined asset and wealth management unit, which now includes Marcus, the consumer bank. Dubbed a “structural fixer” by a colleague, Nachmann appears to be the henchman of choice for Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon. Two months into the role, Bloomberg says he’s cutting up to 400 people in the firm’s retail banking operations as Goldman braces for a 44% fall in profits.
As is often the case before Christmas, the job cuts are warming up. They’re still tepid though. Even Goldman’s hundreds of cuts are gentle compared to banks’ predilection for dumping thousands of staff in the past.
Separately, it’s not clear whether Sam Bankman Fried has technically lost his job, but he appeared to have been relying on his parents, who reportedly fear being financially decimated by what’s happening with their son.
For the moment at least, SBF will get free board and lodging courtesy of the Bahamian state. At 6pm EST yesterday, SBF was arrested in the Bahamas. Local police said it was ‘without incident,’ suggesting a certain placidity about the event. SBF is charged with wire fraud, wire fraud conspiracy, securities fraud, securities fraud conspiracy and money laundering and wants to avoid extradition to the US.
Meanwhile…
“People are just going to have to swallow it. There just aren’t many jobs to move on to if you’re unhappy.” (Financial News)
You will be able to move to 85 Broad Street, Goldman’s former Manhattan headquarters. (Bloomberg)
There are $70bn in M&A deals to be done before the holidays. (Bloomberg)
Next time you see a hedge fund manager in a mini submarine, it will be Ray Dalio. (Financial Times)
William Blair opened a new office in Madrid. (Financial News)
Sam Bankman Fried’s father doesn’t like conflict. He’s trying to be philosophical about events: “We hope this gives us some wisdom. Otherwise, it would be too hard to take.”(WSJ)
Amazon has told some university not to start until 2023 and is paying them $13k regardless of whether they decide to join the company. (Financial Times)
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