Morgan Stanley plans to lay off approximately 2,000 employees this month. A person familiar with the matter told Reuters on Tuesday.
The reduction of 2% to 3% of the company’s workforce, excluding financial advisers, aims to improve operational efficiency. The source requested anonymity.
Morgan Stanley had over 80,000 employees globally at the end of 2024. The source said that the layoffs were not related to current market conditions.
Other Wall Street lenders have recently made job cuts as they prepare for an uncertain economic environment. This follows President Donald Trump’s newly announced tariffs against trading partners.
Goldman Sachs has moved up its annual performance review process. They plan to reduce their staffing by 3% to 5%.
Reuters reported earlier this month that Bank of America has eliminated 150 junior banker positions in its investment banking division.
Bloomberg News initially reported the development at Morgan Stanley earlier that day.
Bloomberg News reported that some of the upcoming job cuts at the lender are linked to performance. Others result from changes to the locations where the bank bases some of its workers.
Bankers had anticipated a strong recovery in capital markets this year after Trump’s election. However, that optimism has not materialized into activity as clients struggle with the president’s constantly changing tariff threats.
Morgan Stanley Co-President Daniel Simkowitz said at a conference on Tuesday that new equity issues and mergers and acquisitions are “certainly a bit on pause, or the bar is high because of some of the policy uncertainties.” U.S. stocks ended a two-session streak of gains.
Simkowitz stated that the bank was still adding “real headcount” at senior levels of its investment banking arm.
Click here for more Banking news.