Wachovia plans to cut 500 jobs within its corporate and investment bank

Wachovia Corp. will slash its dividend and raise $7 billion in a share sale after reporting a surprising first-quarter loss on Monday of $393 million. Also, the bank said it plans to cut 500 jobs within its corporate and investment bank, an area that has been hit by the drying up of the issuing of complex securities. Since October, Wachovia has cut more than 260 jobs in corporate and investment banking, which had about 6,100 employees as of Dec. 31.

Any ideas what groups will be hit? Should first year analysts expect the worst?

10 Comments
 

They are going to kill off dead wait from all sectors. The retail divison is supporting the rest. That sector will also be cutting employees...just to much dead weight.

That 24 billion acquisition mortgage company out in Cali was/is the cancer.

And it is not 500 jobs..more like 10 to 12% of the entire company.

 

I'm not sure first year analyst should expect the worst. As many people have talked about numerous times before, usually analyst are the last to be let go becuase they are relatively cheap labor and they are the ones doing to grunt work. Then again these are some pretty bad times so I guess anything can happen

 

Theoretically, Analysts are the cheapest and therefore it makes the least sense to let them go... but in reality, Analysts also have the greatest numbers in terms of employees at the bank, so if you're trying to please your shareholders it looks better to say, "We just fired 500 people!" (oh and btw 400 were Analysts) than to say, "We fired 50 people!" (but all of them were making > $1MM per year).

In the layoffs across the Street so far, a significant number of Analysts have been cut... in fact, I don't even know why I still have a job considering how many friends have been laid off.

In general LevFin/Structured Products will be hit hardest, as stevenbn said, but I don't think anyone is "safe."

 
Best Response

Of all my friends who did banking right after graduating, I'd say around 1/3 left after their first years, either to go to PE/HF early or to leave finance altogether. Then about 1/3 have been laid off recently, e.g. since the market downturn in the summer last year.

Which leaves very few people of those I originally knew in banking. In fact it almost feels like I'm the only one left.

This shouldn't scare anyone - I think you'd find much the same situation of anyone who started 2 years ago. There's always incredible turnover in banking... when the market is bad, it's people getting fired and leaving the industry and when the market is good, it's people hopping to other firms/buyside.

Just the nature of the beast.

 

Quaerat facilis dolore qui ab. Ut enim unde consequatur et totam.

Necessitatibus sit quo et ut nostrum aspernatur. Accusantium explicabo incidunt accusamus est. Et officiis qui odio explicabo et dolor pariatur. Tempore laudantium soluta at officiis harum sed. Earum eveniet in eaque et quidem debitis. Dolor minus et fugiat sed repudiandae nobis voluptas.

Temporibus et itaque voluptatem. Corporis dolor quia sunt impedit vero quo. Labore velit quos fugit. Quia est impedit quos vitae qui. Consequatur sapiente quae nam facilis hic dolor. Optio cumque qui laudantium dolor corporis suscipit illo. Possimus amet voluptate quod fuga velit et eum quia.

Career Advancement Opportunities

August 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • JPMorgan 01 98.3%
  • Morgan Stanley 08 97.8%
  • Goldman Sachs 02 97.2%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

August 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.4%
  • Evercore No 98.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 01 98.3%
  • Banco Santander 02 97.8%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.2%

Professional Growth Opportunities

August 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 06 98.3%
  • Goldman Sachs 01 97.8%
  • JPMorgan 01 97.2%

Total Avg Compensation

August 2026 Investment Banking

  • Vice President (16) $429
  • Associates (48) $259
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (8) $210
  • 2nd Year Analyst (25) $178
  • Intern/Summer Associate (14) $159
  • 1st Year Analyst (83) $151
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (75) $101
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
3
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
4
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
5
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
6
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
7
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
8
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
9
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
10
Mimbs's picture
Mimbs
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”