Lunchtime Links: Now smaller investment banks are cutting jobs

Yesterday, we pointed to the benefits of working for a smaller investment bank, based on some positive third-quarter results at Evercore.

Later in the day (state-side), however, another smaller player, KBW, also reported and it wasn't at all good.

The bank posted a loss of $15.7m, compared with a profit of $3.8m for the same period last year. Revenue slumped by 44% to $50.8m when analysts expected $82.5m and its investment banking advisory income fell by 16%.

Unfortunately, this has therefore necessitated some job cuts. 13% of its workforce is set to go, or a total of around 80 people. Some left in the third quarter, while the remainder of the redundancies will be implemented by the end of 2011.

Its chief executive John Duffy has also stepped down, having been diagnosed with prostate cancer and will be succeeded by Thomas Michaud.

Meanwhile, outside of the bulge bracket banks, more job cuts have started to emerge. Macquarie has said that it'll cut 445 jobs, a figure which could rise to 1,000. Daiwa Securities has also announced that it will make 300 redundancies within its overseas operation, with further cuts expected.

"It's clear that further cost cuts are required - a significant scaling back of loss-making operations far in excess of what's being targeted now," Makarim Salman, head of Japan financials research at Jeffries in Tokyo told Reuters.

The "Silicon roundabout" is trying to wrestle tech talent from financial services firms (Financial Times)

"London is the centre of financial services in Europe. It's under constant attack through Brussels directives. It's an area of concern, it's a key national interest that we need to defend." (Times)

London benefits from incumbency and a long history as a financial centre. Trading creates liquidity, which attracts more business (and skills) in a virtuous circle. London's long-term prospects depend on its ability to sustain these attractions-and to rekindle the competitive fire that the Big Bang reforms aimed to spark. (Economist)

At least one broker has ceased trading with MF Global, as its credit is reduced to junk status (Wall Street Journal)

Morgan Stanley has beefed up security as Occupy Wall Street protests move closer to its HQ (Dealbreaker)

Directors at FTSE 100 companies have received 50% pay increases over the last year (BBC)

Lazard's M&A advisory revenue has increase by 24% (Bloomberg)

But it aims to "grow annual compensation expense at a slower rate than revenue and to achieve over the cycle compensation levels on average consistent with the targets established at the time we went public in 2005" (Lazard's Q3 results)

Six things that could still go wrong in the eurozone (Guardian)

Chinese banks are set to post record results this year, and non-performing loans are shrinking(Bloomberg)