Apparently Jim Gorman's equity traders are getting off easy.

Per Reuters:

Morgan Stanley laid off a number of senior investment bankers last week and cut bonuses by roughly 15 percent because of a decline in revenue from dealmaking and capital raising across Wall Street, people with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

That's ruff stuff. But the whole thing smacks of the Lloyd Blankfein School of Youthing Up Your Corner Offices.

Morgan Stanley, which ranked fourth for investment banking fees last year, cut more than 20 managing directors from its investment banking division globally, representing about 5 percent of the total, the sources said.
While the bank typically lets go of the bottom 5 percent of its workforce at year-end to get rid of underperformers, the cuts to senior bankers were deeper than in years past, according to the sources.
Morgan Stanley also announced the promotion of managing directors on Thursday.

So at the House of Gorman it's "Out with the old" and "In with the soon to be old."

Now go forth, newly-minted MS MDs, and find some shitty tech startups to take public or an almost useless media conglomerate looking to sell whatever valuable assets it can dredge up. Your job depends on it!

Exclusive: Morgan Stanley cuts bankers, bonuses as deals, IPOs stall - sources [Reuters]