Lunchtime Links: Haemorrhage, haemorrhage, haemorrhage - investment banks are bleeding staff. Or are they?

It's turning out to be a bloody day for banks' employee numbers. On one hand, Credit Suisse, whose investment banking cost revenue ratio now stands at 91%, is cutting 2,000 people (most of them investment bankers).

On the other, Mark Kleinman at Sky News has finally unearthed an exciting 'exclusive' and reported yesterday that HSBC is preparing to cut, "10,000 jobs could be cut across various parts of the group's global operation." The plans will apparently be revealed when the bank reports its results on Monday.

Needless to say, this is bad. But is it really, really bad?

Yes, if you lose your job. Not necessarily in the great scheme of things. Credit Suisse has indicated that 500 of its job cuts will fall in Switzerland. Assuming all the remaining 1,500 hit the investment bank, this will amount to a headcount reduction of 7%. Even so, Credit Suisse would still have 1,000 more investment bankers than it did at the trough of 2009.

What about HSBC? No one knows precisely where its job cuts will fall. However, when it announced plans to save $3.5bn earlier this year, its cost cutting intentions were concentrated on technology, operations and finance. It's also been heavily trimming its retail operations. Is it too much too much to expect that investment bankers will be slightly spared?

HSBC may post a gain in first-half net income as shrinking US writedowns outweigh a decline in investment banking revenue. (Bloomberg)

Brady Dougan says they'd hoped things would improve after Q2 but that "clearly things continue to be challenging." (Bloomberg)

Credit Suisse's investment bank put in the weakest performance among global peers, says Nomura analyst Jon Peace. (Wall Street Journal)

Macquarie doesn't think it will be growing profits in FICC trading any more. (Bloomberg)

Trading income also fell 47% at DBS bank in Singapore. (Bloomberg)

There have been 25 initial public offerings on the London Stock Exchange Main Market this year. That compares with 44 in 2010 and the 86 IPOs of 2005. (Wall Street Journal)

RBS has hired someone with experience in distressed real estate. (Financial Times)

BNP Paribas has 350 employees dedicated to its prime brokerage business and plans to grow headcount in the US, Asia and Europe over the next year. (Financial News)

A bottle of wine costing 75k has been sold. (Reuters)