Goldman planning another round of job cuts amid chill in banking

GOLDMAN Sachs Group is considering another round of job cuts amid a muted dealmaking environment that has dented revenues across Wall Street.

The investment bank is working on what would be its third round of job cuts in under a year, according to people with knowledge of the plans. The firm eliminated several hundred jobs in September, followed by a much bigger round of cuts at the start of this year. The moves this time are expected to affect less than 250 people and will include more-senior employees at the firm, one of the people said, asking not to be named discussing private matters.

A representative for Goldman Sachs declined to comment.

The move comes a few months after the bank embarked on one of its biggest rounds of job cuts ever when it moved to eliminate about 3,200 positions in January. Banking executives across the industry are re-examining costs as a rebound in dealmaking takes longer to materialise. Morgan Stanley is carrying out one of the significant reductions, cutting roughly 3,000 jobs this quarter, Bloomberg has reported.

In February, Goldman Sachs outlined plans to seek about US$1 billion in expense reductions. Chief financial officer Denis Coleman had said the January job cuts combined with curtailing of replacement hiring after attrition would result in US$600 million of run-rate payroll reduction. He also spelt about US$400 million in non-compensation expense efficiencies the firm was seeking to achieve. BLOOMBERG