Goldman To Slash Jobs As Dealmaking Slows

Goldman Sachs Group plans more workforce reductions as the difficult economic environment weighs on dealmaking, the bank's president said on Thursday.

"The macro backdrop is extraordinarily challenging," Goldman's President and Chief Operating Officer John Waldron told investors at a conference, without specifying the scale of the layoffs.

The firm is expected to cut fewer than 250 jobs in the coming weeks, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters in May. In January it cut 3,200 jobs, its biggest headcount reduction since the 2008 financial crisis.

Waldron said the latest job cuts will help the firm achieve the US$600-million target it has set for payroll expenses, and hinted the firm may exceed that target by the end of the year.

He also said he expects a 25 percent fall in market revenue for both equities and fixed income in the current quarter from a year earlier.

"If you think about global banking and markets, the capital markets activity is more sluggish … The markets-oriented businesses, equities and fixed income, the activity levels are more muted."

The comments echo those of Wall Street rivals. Andy Saperstein, co-president of Morgan Stanley, warned on Wednesday that trading results will be "notably down" in the second quarter versus a year earlier, while "investment banking is also very challenged."

JPMorgan Chase & Co's revenues for investment banking and trading are both expected to decline 15 percent in the second quarter, Daniel Pinto, the bank's president, said in May. (Reuters)