Morgan Stanley’s efforts to reduce expenses by eliminating jobs has cost it $308 million, with the firm’s investment bank taking the brunt.
(Bloomberg) — Morgan Stanley’s efforts to reduce expenses by eliminating jobs has cost it $308 million, with the firm’s investment bank taking the brunt.
The bank reported the second-quarter severance costs after it moved to eliminate about 3,000 jobs earlier this year as it contended with a persistent slump in deal-making. Those cuts followed an earlier round in December, when Morgan Stanley trimmed about 2% of its workforce.
Wall Street has leaned on job cuts as it sought to rein in expenses amid a chill in investment banking. Rivals Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Bank of America Corp. have all reduced some positions this year to varying degrees as they bow to expense pressures.
In June, Morgan Stanley Chief Executive Officer James Gorman said it was unlikely that the bank would make additional cuts to the 3,000 it had planned to eliminate by the end of June. The banking and trading group was expected to shoulder many of those reductions, Bloomberg reported at the time. They also included some of Morgan Stanley’s Asia-Pacific investment banking workforce.
Compensation expenses also rose at the bank in the second quarter, hitting $6.26 billion compared with $5.55 billion in the same period last year. Morgan Stanley reported 82,006 employees at the end of June, down from 82,266 at March’s end.
More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com
©2023 Bloomberg L.P.