Morgan Stanley plans 3,000 more job cuts as deal making slumps
- Firm will shed 5 per cent of staff, excluding financial advisers and personnel supporting them, sources say
- Morgan Stanley reported a 32 per cent decline in its merger advisory and a 22 per cent slump in its equity-underwriting business in the first quarter
Morgan Stanley is preparing a fresh round of job cuts amid a renewed focus on expenses as recession fears delay a rebound in deal making.
Senior managers are discussing plans to eliminate about 3,000 jobs from the global workforce by the end of this quarter, according to people with knowledge of the matter. That would amount to roughly 5 per cent of staff excluding financial advisers and personnel supporting them within the wealth management division.
The banking and trading group is expected to shoulder many of the reductions, one of the people said. A spokesperson for New York-based Morgan Stanley, which employs about 82,000 people, declined to comment.
The cuts come just months after the firm trimmed about 2 per cent of its workforce.
Wall Street’s biggest banks offered few reasons for cheer while reporting first-quarter results after seeing their fees from helping companies with takeovers and raising capital – a proxy for the economy’s health – slump over the past year. The Federal Reserve’s desire to curb inflation through rate hikes and the ensuing regional-banking tumult have further damped activity.
CEO James Gorman said last month that underwriting and mergers activity has been subdued and that he does not expect a rebound before the second half of this year or 2024.
