Morgan Stanley to lay off 7% investment banking workforce in Asia-Pacific

Investment bank giant Morgan Stanley is considering cutting 7 per cent of its Asia-Pacific investment banking workforce. Among this, China is likely to take the worst hit. 

According to a report in Bloomberg, the bank will start communicating with affected bankers as soon as this week. Over 40 jobs are at risk including those with the capital markets unit. Other divisions might also be impacted slightly. 

However, a final decision on the number of job cuts has not yet been made, the report added. 

These job cuts are part of Morgan Stanley’s plan to reduce 3,000 jobs globally by end of this year, impacting as much as 5 per cent of its total workforce. 

Morgan Stanley has a bigger China team, deployed in Hong Kong. But deal activity is slowing down as the relationship between US and China is gradually souring. After deals slowed down, the firm slashed around 50 investment banking jobs in Asia by the end of last year, with a significant number being China-focussed roles.

The region has been contributing 13 per cent to the Morgan Stanley group’s net revenue in the past five years. In 2022, the net revenue from this region reached $6.7 billion. 

Meanwhile, the firm plans to increase headcount in France by 200 by 2025, bringing the total staff to 500 in the country. The investment bank follows the path of other US firms such as Bank of America, Goldman Sachs and Citigroup in building up operations across the European Union in the wake of Britain's exit from the bloc.

Also read: Morgan Stanley to cut 3,000 more jobs in second round of layoffs: Report