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Melanie Rodier
Melanie Rodier
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Wall Street: The Cuts Are Coming Back

The Street hasn't seen as dark a job picture since 2009.

The last major job cuts on Wall Street were back in the dark days of the recession in early 2009.

In the first quarter of that year Goldman Sachs alone cut its work force by almost 9 percent. Since then, most firms have moderately added to their headcount, or at least have made no further cuts.

But on the shoulders of weak markets and uncertainty over the impact of new regulations, all that is about to change this summer, according to an article in the New York Times.

From the NYT:

Wall Street plans to get smaller this summer. Faced with weak markets and uncertainty over regulations, many of the biggest firms are preparing for deep cuts in jobs and other costs.

The cutback plans are emerging even as Wall Street firms have mostly recovered from the financial crisis and are reporting substantial profits again. But those profits are not as big as they were before the crisis, and it is expected that in the coming months it will be even more difficult for firms to make money. Worries about debt in Europe and the shape that the Dodd-Frank financial overhaul rules will ultimately take, combined with the usual summer doldrums, are prompting banks to act.

"It's a tense environment right now," said Glenn Schorr, an analyst with the investment bank Nomura.

Even Goldman Sachs, Wall Street's most profitable firm, is retrenching. Senior executives at Goldman have concluded they need to cut 10 percent, or $1 billion, of noncompensation expenses over the next 12 months, according to a person close to the matter who was not authorized to speak on the record. The big pullback will cause Goldman employees, who have already been ordered to cut costs, to re-examine every aspect of their business.

Melanie Rodier has worked as a print and broadcast journalist for over 10 years, covering business and finance, general news, and film trade news. Prior to joining Wall Street & Technology in April 2007, Melanie lived in Paris, where she worked for the International Herald ... View Full Bio
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