Financial and legal giants slash jobs

The spate of job cuts in the financial world has spread to Australia, with Macquarie Bank the latest to axe jobs in a bid to cut costs.

The spate of job cuts in the financial world has spread to Australia, with Macquarie Bank the latest to axe jobs in a bid to cut costs.

Investment banking giant Macquarie Group cut between 500 and 1000 jobs yesterday in what bank insiders are calling their own “day of the long knives”.

The sacking process was brutal; after an early morning meeting of senior management, staff were told to sit by their phones and await the bad news.

The cuts at Macquarie – which also extend to the group’s British and Asian operations – come just days after 40 staff were sacked from Goldman Sachs and 30 people were cut from Deutsche Bank’s local operations.

The Australian job cuts come after a spate of around 20,000 job losses overseas. Last night Swiss banking giant Credit Suisse announced plans to axe 5300 staff, or 11% of its workforce, while Nomura revealed that it will cut 1000 jobs in London. Citigroup, which was once America’s largest bank, is in the process of cutting 52,000 jobs throughout its global operations.

The legal fraternity is also swinging the axe. Deacons has retrenched 15 property and finance lawyers, while DLA Phillips Fox has cut 12 lawyers in recent times. Deacon chief executive Don Boyd announced the firm’s round of redundancies via a group voice mail message.

However, most law firms will see staff numbers increase in the new years as graduates come on board.