Monday's Headlines: Top UK banks slash 11% of workforce

The UK's five-largest banks-RBS, Llyods, Standard Chartered, HSBC and Barclays- have eliminated more than 103,000 jobs - or 11% of their headcount -- since 2008, with more to come, according to a Bloomberg story. At least 34,500 of the cuts were made in Britain, and the biggest layoffs were at the government assisted RBS and Llyods.

One analyst summed up the reason: "The underlying trend is trying to make the back-office business more efficient, lower and lower, and create the room for client-facing staff so you can actually take market share."

Other news:

Goldman is near a deal to sell its Houston based Litton Loan Servicing unit to Ocwen Financial for an estimated $450 million. [NY Times]

FINRA's attempts to implement new Congressional orders are hitting small brokerages harder than the big ones. [DealBook]

An industry group argues that bonus restrictions should not apply to private equity firms. [DealBook

Federally ordered bank takeovers resulted in just five failures in May, signaling the cycle of seizures might be winding down. [WSJ]

Nobel Prize winner Peter Diamond withdrew as a nominee for Federal Reserve governor in the face of Republican opposition. [Reuters]

Australia's Riverdale Mining inked a $200 million deal to sell thermal coal from its Benga mine in Mozambique to commodities trader Trafigura. [The Australian]