According to the latest reports, banking major Morgan Stanley is cutting at least 50 investment banking jobs in Asia Pacific becoming the latest among global banks to scale back operations in the region. The layoffs affect around 13% of the bank’s Asia investment banking workforce of 400 in the region, the report added.
Bankers based in Hong Kong and China are going to be affected the most, the report claimed. The cuts are one the largest to Morgan Stanley’s China-focused investment banking team. Similar measures have also been taken by other banks amid a decline in deal making activities in China owing to a slowing economy.
Morgan Stanley reported a first quarter profit of $2.02 per share, above analysts’ average estimate of $1.66. The bank’s total revenue rose to $15.14 billion compared with $14.5 billion a year earlier. Investment banking revenue climbed 16% compared to the same time last year and in the Asia-Pacific region, merger and acquisition advisory fees for the bank in the first quarter dropped 41.5% to $30.4 million. The bank’s equity capital markets fees were worth $68.5 million for the first quarter up 26.3% on the same quarter in 2023. In January, Bank of America laid off around 20 bankers in the Asia Pacific region, after a flurry of investment bank downsizing by UBS, Citigroup and other boutique firms.
