New York, Dec 26 (UNI) Twenty of the world’s largest banks laid off more than 60,000 employees in 2023, marking one of the worst years for job cuts since the 2007-2008 financial crisis, the Financial Times newspaper reported on Tuesday.
At least half of the cuts came from Wall Street lenders whose investment banking businesses have struggled to cope with the pace of rising interest rates in the United States and Europe, according to the newspaper’s calculations.
The biggest cuts by a single institution came from Switzerland’s UBS as it began to take over its former rival, Credit Suisse. In November, UBS said it had already cut 13,000 jobs from the combined group, bringing its total headcount to 116,000, the newspaper reported.
In percentage terms, the largest cuts were made at the UK’s Metro Bank (20%), followed by UBS (10%). Wall Street’s Goldman Sachs (7%) rounded out the top three in terms of percentage cuts.
“There is no stability, no investment, no growth in most banks — and there are likely to be more job cuts,” Lee Thacker, owner of the Silvermine Partners financial services headhunting firm, was quoted as saying by the newspaper.
More than 140,000 jobs were slashed by lenders during the global financial crisis in 2007-2008, according to the Financial Times.
In mid-March, Credit Suisse’s share price plunged nearly 30%, sparking fears of a liquidity crunch. The incident followed the collapse of several US financial institutions. Later in the month, the Swiss National Bank announced the acquisition of Credit Suisse by UBS.
