They say the first cut is the deepest. They lie. With layoffs, as with subprime writedowns, banks are saving the biggest up till last.
As banks’ losses grow higher and higher, so swings the axe wider and wider. In fact, layoff rumours look like a useful leading indicator at the moment for which banks are about to announce fresh writedowns.
Staff at Citi and Merrill are in the firing line. (Guess which two banks Goldman called out for double figure billion dollar writedowns this month).
Fresh “retrenching” at Merrill Lynch began on the trading floor at 7:00am EST on Thursday, with the deepest cuts, according to Dealbreaker, in FICC. As has been widely reported by CNBC’s Charlie Gasparino, 1,600 are suspected to have lost their jobs.
Citi meanwhile, has yet to begin its latest round. At it’s a biggy. The bank is expected to shore between 5-10 per cent from its global workforce. So up to 32,000 jobs to go next week. As Dealbreaker explains:
This is sort of sad because when you look at that jolly, elfin face of Vikram Pandit’s, you don’t think “bad cop,” you think “Christmas in Bombay” (“over-hyped, highly-mediocre hedge fund,” etc.)
