Monday's Headlines: Low morale on Wall Street as layoff cycle accelerates
Morale on Wall Street is dropping as the current layoff cycle sweeps across the nation's financial center Reuters reports. As thousands of bankers lose their jobs, the survivors have to pick up the slack, which not only erodes morale but also hurts customer service.
"Hours have become longer, trading floors have more open seats and fresh young faces are taking over offices where high-level personnel once sat," Reuters writes. To make things worse, poorly planned layoffs give shareholders the impression that the bank is simply applying a Band-Aid to a serious problem, and that managers are only slashing expenses temporarily while shedding valuable talent.
Reuters notes that layoffs announced in recent months bring the total to 18,252. Firms that have recently fired thousands include Credit Suisse, HSBC, Barclays, Goldman Sachs, Bank of New York Mellon and Bank of America.
Other News:
Ex-American Express CEO Golub tells Buffett he's not "coddled" on taxes. [Wall Street Journal]
Canadian banks outperform international peers as profits jump 14%. [Bloomberg]
Celebrity internet stock analysts back in vogue, banks competing to lure them with pay. [DealBook]
US government pressuring NY attorney general to back foreclosure settlement with banks. [New York Times]
Societe Generale CEO expects market jitters to continue until November, after Q3 earnings out. [Reuters]
Basel III capital regime under threat as regulators disagree about rules, weaken resolve. [BusinessWeek]
Deutsche Bank's South Korean employees and securities unit charged with market manipulation. [Wall Street Journal]
Citigroup prop trading head Sharma plans to leave and start hedge fund. [Bloomberg]
Top Wall Street banks received $1.2 trillion secret Fed loans, dwarfing public loans from treasury. [Bloomberg]
Bailed out Russian bank boss says rescue was "insane waste of money." [Wall Street Journal]
Economist suggests small tax on Wall Street financial transactions to raise money. [New York Times]
