A gaggle of employees in leveraged finance were told to leave at not come back at HSBC across the pond this afternoon. Severance is apparently 6 months. Asses in the US are so far intact (this morning) but "rumors are obviously flying."
Or it could be a mere 10,000. The details are still being hammered out.
Relatedly, Goldman is looking for some young bodies. Financial firms in London, besieged by Europe’s sovereign-debt crisis, probably will shrink their workforce this year, snapping a hiring rebound from 2008’s credit crisis as New York’s industry ekes out job growth. Banks, insurers and other financial-services firms may eliminate about 3,000 jobs across greater London as companies in the New York region add 9,000, according to U.K.-based researcher Oxford Economics Ltd. London’s proximity to the debt crisis is undermining the city’s efforts to gain on its trans-Atlantic rival. While Wall Street also is suffering from a global slowdown in trading and deal-making, North American banks are benefiting from a surge in consumer lending...Some large banks are offsetting senior-staff reductions by recruiting less-expensive workers. New York-based Goldman Sachs, seeking to cut $500 million of costs, expects its workforce to feature a greater proportion of junior employees by year-end, Chief Financial Officer David A. Viniar, 57, said July 17. “Wall Street is tilting toward younger, up-and-coming talent,” Kahn said. London Firings Seen Surging As Finance Firms Add Jobs In NY [Bloomberg]
Employees across the pond know what we're talking about.
Sure, the bank just announced it'll be axing in the range of 50,000 employees but it's in expansion mode in Asia!
Cuts are said to have begun today across the pond. FYI: 'Consultation process' (job cuts) at BarCap London start this week. No indication of scale. Same day as [UK governance watchdogs] PIRC and ABI put firm on Amber Top alert due to exec compensation... troops not happy.