A recent survey undertaken by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) and PricewaterhouseCoopers reveals that UK financial services firms are to shed jobs at a faster pace in early 2012, after the 'escalating euro zone debt crisis dented their confidence'.
CBI Chief Economic Advisor Ian McCafferty said: 'Firms are less optimistic than they were, and they are employing fewer people'. McCafferty said that British banks, asset managers and insurers look to be planning to cut an additional 11,000 positions in the first quarter of this year.
In the meantime, Reuters reports that, according to its sources, Bank of America Merrill Lynch is cutting around 20% of its Managing Director positions across Asia. The firm is said to have begun a round of job cuts in the region Monday, and 15 MDs are now expected to leave in the first-quarter, some through early retirement.
Finally, The Wall Street Journal reports that Deutsche Bank is thought to have cut at least five staff from its institutional client group in Australia Monday, with Morgan Stanley also wielding the axe (up to 10 employees in institutional equities) in that country too.
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