Financial news

However, its London equity capital markets and leveraged finance teams bore the brunt of the job cuts within its investment banking division in Canary Wharf, according to people familiar with the matter.

Around four people were cut in ECM, largely junior employees. However, executive director Daniele Bonomo, who focuses on derivatives, is leaving the bank, the people said.

In leveraged finance, managing director Alessandro Mazza is understood to be leaving the bank as part of the restructuring that affected three people in the unit. In M&A and investment banking, Benni Azaria and managing director Harold Joanknecht, who covers the Benelux region from London, are leaving the bank, according to the people.

READ Credit Suisse staff cuts hit London leveraged finance and ECM teams as swingeing layoffs start

Two people also left its debt capital markets unit. A total of 10 to 12 dealmakers have been included in the cuts in London, the people said.

A Morgan Stanley spokesman declined to comment.

The lender became the latest large investment bank to reintroduce annual job cuts this year. Barclays, Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs and HSBC have trimmed their dealmaking teams in recent months as investment banking fees have tumbled 42% from record levels in 2021. Credit Suisse is cutting 900 front-line jobs within its investment bank as part of broader staff reductions, with half of these hitting Europe.

The cuts at Morgan Stanley are the first reductions since 2019, as chief executive James Gorman promised not to cut jobs during the Covid-19 pandemic. Gorman flagged at a Reuters conference in December that the bank would be making “modest cuts” after saying the firm was “looking at headcount” during its third-quarter earnings call.

Banks typically cut between 1% and 3% of staff that they deem underperformers each year, but paused these culls during the pandemic and last year as they scrambled to hire more dealmakers to deal with a record $130bn fee haul.

Cuts among its London bankers are comparatively light. Reuters reported on 12 December that around 50 investment bankers in Asia would be included in Morgan Stanley’s job reductions.

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