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Next bank up for job cuts?

January 9, 2013

US media have reported Morgan Stanley is planning a massive job cut in the coming weeks. The move would come amid a restructuring drive by many lenders around the world to become leaner and more focused on core tasks.

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Stock tickers light up Morgan Stanley headquarters (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)
Image: AP

The Bloomberg new agency and the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday said US bank Morgan Stanley was intending to cut 1,600 jobs over the next couple of weeks.

The reports which remained unconfirmed by the lender itself said half of the cuts would occur in the United States, with the other half spread across the bank's international operations.

Reductions would eliminate 6 percent of positions in its Institutional Securities unit as well as support areas and come on top of Morgan Stanley's earlier plan to cut 7 percent of payrolls.

Adapting to new realities

In the past couple of months, many big lenders have already reduced their workforces or have partly closed down whole departments, among them Deutsche Bank of Germany.

The banks in question have thus reacted to sinking profits in investment operations due to turbulence on financial markets and tougher regulation.

Morgan Stanley belongs to the ten largest banks in the US and manages the deposits of wealthy private clients, assists companies in takeover bids and initial public offers (IPOs). Towards the end of last year, the bank had a workforce of 57,700 globally, down from 62,200 a year earlier.

hg/ipj (AFP, dpa)