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Saturday, November 21, 
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Pink slips on Wall Street

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
  • Wall Street layoffs just keep coming.
  • Amex, HSBC are among the latest to make layoff headlines.
  • Meanwhile, Moelis & Co. and other boutiques are said to be hiring.
  • And there's always corporate development.
pinkslip.gifAmid credit market turmoil, a subsequent downturn in dealflow and a global recession, pink slips have littered Wall Street, and now PE firms, law firms and other companies are announcing layoffs. Here's Dealscape's latest:

October 2: NewStar lays off 14
October 1: Chrysler Financial, Ameriprise and more

September 30: NewStar Financial
September 29: First Industrial and Kredyt Bank
September 25: Wells Fargo and BBVA
September 24: Citigroup, Wells Fargo and more
September 23: UBS and WellPoint
September 22: AIG laid off 10,000 this year
September 21: Sallie Mae, Flagstar and more
September 17: UCBH, Wells Fargo and more
September 15: Paternoster and Village Bank
September 14: RBS and Corus Bank
September 11: NetJets and Eversheds
September 10: Van der Moolen, AIG and more
September 9: MassMutual, BB&T and more
September 8: Provident Financial and HSBC
September 3: Cattles, Sonnenschein Nath and more
September 2: M&I, Bank First National and more

August 31: BofA, Citizens and more
August 28: Lloyds Banking and more
August 27: UBP
August 26: Bank of America and D.E. Shaw
August 25: Bank First National to close branches
August 24: Accenture and J.P. Morgan
August 20: Wells Fargo lays off 62
August 18: Sovereign Bancorp and more
August 17: Colonial BancGroup and more
August 14: AIG, PNC, and Alfa
August 10: Ulster Bank, Bank of New York Mellon
August 7: AIG, Wells Fargo and more
August 5: PNC to lay off 74
August 3: Why is Barclays cutting and hiring staff?

July 31: Bank of America and Metropolitan
July 29: Bahama drama
July 28: BofA, Citi wield axe
July 27: Hartford Financial and more
July 23: Harley-Davidson Financial
July 17: Citigroup to lay off 500
July 16: Lloyds and Beverly National
July 15: GE Capital to lay off 127
July 13: Wells Fargo and Advanta
July 9: Colonial, DLA Piper and more
July 8: JWM Partners, MetLife and more
July 6: Wells Fargo, Stanford and more
July 2: 467K jobs lost
July 1: Wells Fargo and more
June 30: Lloyds, GE Capital and more
June 29: HSBC, LSE and more
June 24: Barclays and more
June 23: J.P. Morgan and Hypo Real Estate
June 19: Capital One, Barclays and more
June 18: Wells Fargo, RBC and more
June 17: Bank of America and more
June 12: AXA, Frontier and more
June 11: M&T Bank and Bass Berry
June 10: D.E. Shaw and AmEx
June 9: Lloyds to cut 1,660 jobs
June 8: Finance Layoffs: HSBC and Wells Fargo
June 5: Finance Layoffs: Fidelity, Cowen and more
June 4: Finance Layoffs: Capital Group, ING, more
June 3: Finance Layoffs: J.P. Morgan, Raptor and more
June 2: Finance Layoffs: Citigroup, Weil Gotshal and more
June 1: Finance Layoffs: ING and RBS
May 29: Finance Layoffs: TD Bank and OceanFirst
May 28: Finance Layoffs: Barclays, Pequot Capital and more
May 27: Finance Layoffs: BMO, Sovereign and more
May 26: Finance Layoffs: Lloyds and KeyCorp
May 22: Finance Layoffs: MassMutual lays off 58
May 21: Finance Layoffs: Capital One and more
May 20: Finance Layoffs: Lloyds, ABN Amro and more
May 19: Finance Layoffs: AmEx, Genworth and more

May 18: Finance Layoffs: Sovereign Bancorp, BlackRock Inc. and more.
May 15: Finance Layoffs: J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., others. 
May 14: Finance Layoffs: MassMutual Financial Group, ING Groep NV, more.
May 13: Law Layoffs: Day Pitney LLP, Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP, more. 

Meanwhile, in hiring news: May 12: Mizuho Securities Co. needs i-bankers.

And back to the layoffs: May 12: Finance Layoffs: Barclays plc, American International Group Inc. and AmEx.
May 11: Finance Layoffs: Principal Financial Group Inc. and Citizens Bank.
May 8: Finance Layoffs: American International Group Inc. and Westpac Banking Corp.
May 7: Finance Layoffs: Capital One Financial Corp., PNC Financial Services/National City and J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.
May 6: Finance Layoffs: Wells Fargo & Co., GE Money and more.
May 5: Finance Layoffs: IndyMac and more.
May 4: Finance Layoffs: Banco Santander SA's Sovereign.
May 1: Finance Layoffs: Lloyds Banking Group plc and others.
April 30: Finance Layoffs: Bank of Montreal and more.
April 29: Finance Layoffs: BearingPoint Inc., more.
April 28: Finance Layoffs: Deutsche Bank AG, Bank of America Corp., more.
April 27: Finance Layoffs: American Express Co., Legg Mason, more.
April 24:Finance Layoffs: HSBC Holdings plc, Nomura Holdings Inc., and others make headlines as Wells Fargo & Co. cuts 150 i-bankers. Meanwhile, take a look at who's hiring.

April 23: Finance Layoffs: Lloyds Banking Group, Capital One Financial Group and more.
April 22: Finance Layoffs: UBS, T. Rowe Price Group and more.
April 21: Finance Layoffs: HSBC Holdings plc, Downey Savings & Loan, more.
April 20: Finance Layoffs: J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., MassMutual and more.
April 17: Finance Layoffs: UBS, Hypo Real Estate, more.
April 16: Finance Layoffs: Wells Fargo & Co., Citigroup Inc., more.
April 15: Finance Layoffs: UBS, MassMutual, more.
April 14: Finance Layoffs: UBS and J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., more.
April 13: Finance Layoffs: UBS, HSBC Holding plc, more.
April 9: Finance Layoffs: American International Group Inc., National City Bank and J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.
April 8: Finance Layoffs: Citizens Financial Group, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., others.
April 3: Finance Layoffs: RBS, Unitas Capital and more.
April 2: Finance Layoffs: Swiss Re, BofA and more.

Continue reading below

Also From The Deal.com

Meanwhile, Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc planned to cut jobs as the U.K. upped its stake.

April 7: Finance Layoffs: Royal Bank of Scotland plc, Bank of America Corp., more.

April 6: Law firm pink slips: From Reed Smith LLP to Mayer Brown LLP, and more.

For late March, hardly a day went buy without news: March 30: Finance Layoffs: UBS, J.P. Morgan and more; March 27: Finance Layoffs: Societe Generale, BofA and more; March 25: Finance Layoffs: Wells Fargo, HSBC and more; March 23: Finance Layoffs: UBS and Mitsubishi; March 20: Finance Layoffs: Stanford Financial, Pacific Capital and more;

March 18: It's 'Layoff' the game; and UBS reportedly plans to cut 5,000

March 13: Finance Layoffs: BofA, Regions, Fidelity, more.
 
March 11: Finance Layoffs: Citizens, Stanford Financial Group and more. Meanwhile, Bloomberg weighed in earlier in the week on some law firm cuts.

March 9: Finance Layoffs roundup: Stanford Financial Group, Bank of America Corp., more.

March 6: Finance Layoffs roundup: Wells Fargo & Co., HSBC Holdings plc, more.

March 4: Goldman leads layoffs Down Under: Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is reportedly trimming 5% of positions in its Australia joint venture Goldman Sachs JB. Meanwhile, the latest finance layoff reports swirl around Berkshire Hathaway Inc., J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., HSBC Finance Corp., Bank of America Corp. and more.

March 2: Finance Layoffs roundup: HSBC Holdings plc, Citigroup Inc. and others, while Vanguard Group Inc. bucks the trend and Axinn, Veltrop and Harkrider LLP's John Briggs weighs in on big law's bloodletting.

Feb. 23: Finance Layoffs roundup: Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc, Bank of America Corp. and more.

Feb. 19: Finance Layoffs roundup: Citigroup Inc., Bank of America Corp., Huntington Bancshares, more.

Feb. 18: Finance layoffs roundup: Barclays plc, Bank of America Corp. and more.

Feb. 13: Layoff watch: Morgan Stanley, DLA Piper and more.

Feb. 11: Out the door: Meanwhile, Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker LLP's Bradford Newman writes that laid-off employees are taking valuable trade secrets and IP right along with them.

Feb. 10: Finance layoffs roundup: UBS, Bank of America Corp. and more.

Feb. 6: Finance layoffs roundup: State Street Corp., Bank of America Corp. and more.

Feb. 3: Finance layoffs roundup: PNC Financial Services Group Inc., Fidelity Investments and more.

Jan. 30: Finance layoffs roundup: Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Morgan Stanley, Band of America Corp. and more.

Jan. 29: Finance layoffs roundup: Northern Trust Corp., First National Bank and more.

Jan. 22: Finance layoffs roundup: Bank of America Corp., Comerica Inc., State Street, UBS and more.

Jan. 20: Finance layoffs roundup: Cerberus Capital Management LP, Band of America Corp., J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. and more.

Jan. 9: Finance layoffs roundup: Bank of America Corp., Fidelity Investments, Carlyle Group LP and more.

Jan. 6, 2009: Sun Capital Partners Inc., the Boca Raton, Fla., private equity firm, is laying off 23 people, or about 10% of its workforce. Sun Capital's layoffs follow similar moves by other private equity firms, including Blackstone Group LP and Carlyle Group. -- Vipal Monga

Dec. 18: The layoffs keep coming: Barclays Capital, Citadel Investment Group, Bank of America Corp. and more. Dec. 17: BNP Paribas SA is considering cutting 800 jobs.

Meanwhile, Dec. 16 there were surprises in BofA's layoffs: The conventional wisdom about the integration of Merrill Lynch & Co. by Bank of America Corp. -- offered on this site, among other places -- is that executives on both sides face cuts, but on the BofA side, it's the wealth management folks who are most likely to have to make way. After all, Merrill's wealth management operation is the real prize in the deal for BofA CEO Ken Lewis. - Kenneth Klee

This, two weeks after shareholders approve Bank of America Corp.-Merrill Lynch & Co., but layoffs loomed.

Mid-December: Finance layoffs: Schwab, BofA, Northern Trust and more; BlackRock, BofA, Blackstone and more; Dec. 9: Layoff news sends stocks down. Days before, they rallied despite looming layoffs and Dec. 8: UBS, Citadel, GE Antares all made layoffs headlines.

See also: Merrill Grinch: Layoffs and other bad tidings before Christmas. Meanwhile, layoffs hit PE firms, both in the U.S. and abroad; Credit Suisse Group, Nomura Holdings Inc. downsize; and they loom large at Antares Capital.

Dec. 4: Bank Layoffs: Credit Suisse, State Street, Carlyle and more: According to a Challenger, Gray & Christmas survey, financial firms have announced 220,000 layoffs.

Dec. 2: Bank Layoffs: J.P. Morgan, Goldman Sachs, Standard Chartered and more: Many U.S. banks are slashing jobs before the fourth quarter's end, Woehr noted.

Dec. 1: Meanwhile, layoffs hit the legal world, too, and for some firms, tough times means find a merger partner or see your lawyers go to your competitors.

Nov. 21: Layoff roundup: WaMu, Barclays and BoNY, Maria Woehr noted: "Washington Mutual Inc. announced it will eliminate 1,600 jobs in the San Francisco area on Dec. 1, 2008, according to CNN. Barclays Capital plans to dole out pink slips to 50 people in its European leveraged finance, loans and sales divisions. Bank of New York Mellon Corp. will cut its work force by 4%, or about 1,800 jobs, according to CNBC."

Citigroup Inc.

Nov. 17: Citigroup Inc. plans to lay off 52,000. The cuts will be global, according to a Reuters report, and will mostly hit the retail banking business and investment banking, Woehr noted. This is on top of 23,000 already eliminations between June and September, Reuters noted.

J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.

Meanwhile, J.P. Morgan may cut 3,000 from its investment banking division, according to The Telegraph, Woehr wrote.

Fidelity Investments, Putnam Investments

Nov. 17: Massachusetts' financial firm Fidelity Investments said its planned layoffs will include 1,700 employees in the first quarter of 2009. Last week the company let go of 1,300 people, according to The Boston Globe. Also, Massachusetts-based Putnam Investments laid of 47 people as part of a restructuring, according to the Boston Herald. - Maria Woehr

Nomura Holdings Inc., HSBC, DBS

Nomura Holdings Inc. is laying off many of the employees inherited from Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., according to MarketWatch. The cuts are rumored to be in its fixed-income division, but altogether Nomura took on a total of 8,150 employees. Additionally, HSBC Holdings plc announced it would cut 450 jobs in Asia. - Maria Woehr

Morgan Stanley, Goldman, Sachs & Co.

Nov. 14: Morgan Stanley plans to cut 10% of the staff in its institutional securities group and 9% of its asset management group to meet restructuring goals, according to Bloomberg. Goldman, Sachs & Co. recently notified about 3,200 employees that they were being laid off. The bank also will cut as many as 30 municipal finance professionals, which is likely part of a 10% layoff the bank announced last month. The Bond Buyer confirmed that among the layoffs were New York vice president Frank Oh, who is a general government and transportation banker, and vice president Robert Foggio, a housing banker. The report says that mostly senior public finance officials will lose their jobs. - Maria Woehr

Wells Fargo, J.P. Morgan

Nov. 6: Wells Fargo & Co. shares were sinking after executives hinted that it will downsize Wachovia Corp.'s corporate and investment bank before the end of the year. Wells Fargo announced it also plans to sell at least $10 billion of stock to help fund its purchase of Wachovia. Also, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. may shut down its global proprietary trading desk. J.P. Morgan is consolidating operations due to economic conditions. CEO Jamie Dimon believes the U.S. economic downturn will last at least 12 months. - Maria Woehr

Morgan Stanley

Nov. 5: CNBC reports Morgan Stanley could lay off 15% of its work force. The report also estimated that Goldman, Sachs & Co. and J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. will likely have to lay off 10% to 15% of their employees. - Maria Woehr

Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

Oct. 23: According to published reports, Goldman Sachs may slash 10% of its work force, as the financial turmoil persists. Back on June 23, the Financial Times said Goldman Sachs was set to slash 10% of its M&A work force. The news came days after Reuters reported Goldman let go hundreds of support staff and junior bankers, and nearly 25% of employees in vice president roles, Woehr noted June 16.

Merrill Lynch & Co.

Oct. 20: Merrill Lynch & Co.'s chief executive John Thain told Bloomberg "thousands" of jobs would be cut upon the bank's sale to Bank of America Corp. The cuts, The Deal's George White noted, will likely come in IT, operations and finance and follow 5,000 eliminations the firm has made in 18 months. BofA had said in September it would try to hang on to Merrill's top brokers after agreeing to buy the investment bank for $50 billion.

Oct. 10: After Barclays Capital acquired Lehman Brothers North American investment banking division, it looked like 10,000 employees would stay on board. Forbes later put the job cuts at 3,000. Meanwhile, 750 job cuts came Sept. 30 at Lehman's European fixed-income and personal investment management units.

Sept. 30: Now bankrupt, Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. will slash 750 jobs in its European fixed-income and individual investment management divisions, while UBS will cut its workforce by 1,900. Meanwhile, Barclays Capital, which bought some of the choicest pieces of Lehman Brothers, plans to hire an additional 1,500 employees.

The week of Sept. 15: Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy, but the sale of its North American investment banking division to Barclays looked poised to save up to 10,000 jobs at the firm.

In good news, Moelis & Co. and other boutiques are said to be hiring, as is Credit Suisse Group. Meanwhile, Citadel Investment Group LLC has been grabbing top talent amid the credit meltdown. And others have tapped into the pool of former Bear Stearns bankers. For those in search of a career change, there's always corporate development, as Corporate Dealmaker has written about extensively, or switching to consulting or accounting firms or private equity.

Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.

A mere two weeks ahead of its filing, beleaguered Lehman Brothers was thought to be the next firm to announce a fresh round of layoffs. According to a New York Times report Aug. 28, the investment bank was preparing to slash up to 1,500 jobs, or 6% of its workforce, ahead of announcing third-quarter earnings Sept. 15. (Instead, the bank rushed out its earnings, announced a restructuring, wasn't able to find a buyer and then filed for bankruptcy. See a related Dealwatch for more.)

The bank was facing $4 billion in fresh write-downs (it turned out to be $3.9 billion) and needed to do something to shore up cash. The layoffs were to follow 6,000 since June 2007, the Times said. In late May, Reuters reported more layoffs were expected at Lehman, as its outlook continued to grow more dim. Lehman had shed more than 5,000 employees in the last year. The firm was to slash another 1,300 jobs globally across divisions.

Citigroup Inc.

Citigroup's latest round of layoffs could total 10% of its investment banking operations worldwide, The Wall Street Journal noted June 23, citing sources familiar with the matter. Cuts are expected to come this week. In April, the bank said it would eliminate 9,000 more employees over the year to come, on top of 4,200 announced in January.

Credit Suisse Group

On top of 1,000 layoffs this year and 325 jobs it slashed in the fall, the bank is near more cuts, according to press reports in late June. Departments expected to see an axe include the bank's high-yield sales, trading and leveraged loan departments, according to the New York Post, while 75 were eliminated across the firm's British investment banking unit, the Guardian reported.

J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (and Bear Stearns Cos.)

J.P. Morgan, which bought Bear Stearns Cos. for a song in March, may replace 2,000 of its workers with 4,000 it picked up from Bear, Reuters reported June 17. Bear cut nearly 1,500 workers in 2007, Dealscape's Gerald Magpily wrote in November. In connection with the J.P. Morgan deal, 10,000 of its 14,000 employees were said to either take their leave, lose their jobs or were likely to be laid off.

Morgan Stanley

According to a CNBC report in early May, Morgan Stanley was to begin to cut 1,500 employees, on top of 5% of jobs it had already slashed, bringing its total 2008 total to nearly 4,000 eliminations, Dealscape's Matt Wurtzel noted. In June, Magpily noted, Morgan Stanley revealed in June it took a $245 million charge in the second quarter on severance from 3,000 layoffs.

UBS

UBS, Bloomberg reported May 8, could cut 8,000 jobs with 2,500 to 3,000 expected in investment banking. This is on top of the 1,500 UBS cut in 2007, Wurtzel noted.

THE (MIXED) NUMBERS

An exact total isn't easy to come by. Indeed, Woehr pointed out June 24: "'Who really knows how many bankers are unemployed?" But some have taken a stab at a total. Bloomberg reported Sept. 26 they had reached 120,910 since July 2007.

Jim Cramer's tally in a June 16 New York Magazine story, there have been:

"4,000 dismissals at Morgan Stanley, 5,000 at Merrill Lynch, 7,000 at UBS, and 16,000 at Citigroup. ... People talked of the Era of Bear. Now it's gone. Vanished. With more than 10,000 of its 14,000 former employees either looking for work or soon to be laid off by its new owner, JPMorgan."

Woehr notes: "At the end of May there were 22,000 job cuts on Wall Street, according to Crain's New York (which sums up what firms let how many go so far) and 60,000, according to Reuters." The Reuters item is dated June 16.


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Comments

From: rachel morgan,

There are lots of high paying jobs posted on the web now. Many in Banking, finance and Investment banking too -

http://www.realmatch.com
http://www.craiglist.com
http://www.simplyhired.com

Dont dwell on the cuts, hit the job boards!


From: Shannon,

I agree! Financial firms, investment banks, and hedge funds are definitely hiring. Take OneWire, for example. This web-based networking and career connections tool matches top financial firms that are actively hiring with qualified candidates. The whole process is completely anonymous and can be updated throughout one's career. To be considered for a position, all you have to do is create a detailed profile at www.onewire.com.


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