Mario Tama
Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) may start a new round of layoffs globally in coming weeks, Reuters reported Thursday, citing three people with knowledge of the plan, as the Wall Street banker adjusts to a lower number of deals resulting from higher interest rates and slowing global economy.
Much of the attention is on the Asia-Pacific region, the report said. The bank has drafted a list of staff considered redundant who mainly work in teams that focus on China-related business, according to two of the people. Some cuts will come from capital markets teams in mainland China and Hong Kong, and much of the rest are expected from other teams focusing on China, the third person said.
The Asia-Pacific job cuts will be more than the bank’s annual staff reductions from attrition in the region, the people told Reuters. A final decision on the size of the layoffs hasn’t been made yet.
Cuts at Morgan Stanley’s (MS) global operations will occur at about the same time, they said.
Worldwide, the company had about 81,567 employees at Sept. 30, 2022, according to the firm’s Q3 report.
Earlier Thursday, the Challenger Job Cuts report said 33.8K jobs were cut in October, the highest level February of 2021.