2011 Layoffs Recap

If there is one caricature I hate representing, it’s the Grinch. So for my own sake, I better get this out before Christmas comes around- this was an extremely rough year for Wall Street. Amid bankers having to deal hoards of protestors just to get in the door for work, cuts have been especially rampant this year. To be exact, over 210,000 financial services jobs have been cut this year, over 60,000 more than 2010 and almost 160,000 more than 2009.

Although back office and middle office roles experienced an unusual uptick in outsourcing, European contagion made deleveraging by eliminating front office roles an explicit goal for our biggest banks. Additionally, I have gathered that FO layoffs are directly targeted to investment banking divisions.

Listed below are some of the major layoffs for this year, including revisions for additional layoffs.

HSBC- 30,000 to 45,000 jobs axed internationally. As quoted from an HSBC IBD insider, “Many of the cuts are coming from the investment banking office in New York. It is going to be an especially tough year for jobs at HSBC US investment bank.“

Bank of America- In September, BoA announced that it would axe 30,000 jobs globally. From dealbreaker, “Cuts went down at the House of Moynihan November 16h and the day before in S&T…strangely, some real producers were let go, and a lot of shlubs stayed.”

Goldman Sachs- 1,000 let go by 2012. Recently, another 1,000+ cuts were announced in order to combat current losses within their trading division.

UBS- 3,500 laid off in the US. Most of the cuts were directed to investment bankers, the rest were in wealth management and asset management divisions. Another 300 cuts were announced mid November for 2011, early 2012.

Credit Suisse “Layoffs December 2nd in NY IBD with just about every group impacted, at all levels.” About 1,600 total just in investment banking this year. Another 2,000 were cut late summer this year.

Citigroup- 3,000 gone by the end of this year and another 4,500 in coming quarters.

Morgan Stanley- As announced yesterday, 1,600 additional cuts to be made by the first quarter of 2012. A 2.6% reduction of staff directed at IBD higher-level roles like associates and senior analysts.

Société Générale- 150 recently laid off due to the dismantling of its energy division in Stamford, Connecticut.

--

Sorry if I missed anything, I began getting relatively depressed halfway through. Happy Holidays, and congrats to everyone who finished finals this week!