Barclays Capital has cut 50 equities jobs, but this is no cause for concern

9 June 2011

1 minute read

Barclays Capital has cut 50 equities jobs, but this is no cause for concern

BarCap has trimmed its equities sales and trading business by 50 people. This may seem a little weird given that BarCap spent last year building its equities sales and trading business, but it's not. It's normal.

BarCap isn't saying anything about the subtractions on the record. However, we understand that they were the perfectly predictable culmination of a performance review to weed out undesirables.

"In Europe, we've only let go of 12 people," says one BarCap employee. "Four of them are in trading and the rest are sales. We've hired more than 400 people in the past 18 months and it would have been astonishing if we'd got them all right."

Most of the cuts are alleged to have come in flow derivatives, where hiring had apparently been a little over-exuberant. There were also a disproportionate number of cuts in the US, where the business remains replete with former Lehman staff.

It probably helped that some of BarCap's hires over the last 18 months are no longer on guarantees and therefore more easily dispensed with.

AUTHORSarah Butcher

Global Editor

PW
PWM
9 June 2011
I agree with Trader. I am in wealth management, which is probably one of the worst hire and fire operations in banking. Even those who manage to hang on to their jobs for more than a year are struggling to win new customers as most potential clients are irritated by the fact that their relationship managers are usually let go in less than 6 months simply because of failing to bring in unrealistic amounts of fresh money. As a result, banks are losing a lot of revenue which they could have if they had a better reputation and more credibility with clients.
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ch
checkyourlogic
9 June 2011
ridiculous comment re: footballers.
scary that someone working in finance thinks that is why.
should a choir boy who's career is over when his voice breaks get 5M a year too?
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Jo
Jobless
9 June 2011
@Trader - These banks don't care about people, they only care about profits. Simple as.
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fa
fact
9 June 2011
"Footballers for example get paid what they do because their career will end when they reach their 30's" - possibly the stupidest comment on here in a while, its got nothing to do with that. It's to do with the popularity of the sport. Premiership rugby players and county cricketers careers end in their 30's and most of them get paid relatively little.
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Tr
Trader
9 June 2011
It is this constant hiring and firing in the City which annoys me and why Bankers should earn lots of cash. It is also why the industry faces ethical issues and why past problems have occured and why they will continue in the future.
For most bankers their career will be short lived so they should earn enough to retire after a few years service. Footballers for example get paid what they do because their career will end when they reach their 30's. Wish the damn common public and politicians who are basically jealous of anyone earning more than the average 30K would recognise this and shut up.
Constant hiring and firing is also the reason for the rife short term attitude of the industry and the simple aim of making a quick buck.
Companies should be more accountable for their actions and should in take more care when hiring. They should not be allowed to fire a hire for at least 10yrs. I have have seen so many good people taken from their good jobs only to be let go bacause the new employer made an error with his budget and realised he hired to many. The company forgets that they are messing with peoples lives.
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