Recession Watch: 70,000 jobs may go in fresh banking cull

Financial sector is expected to lose yet more people as the crisis deepens



The front page of the Financial Times makes particularly unpleasant reading today if you work for one of the big Wall Street banks.

The Pink'un is predicting another purge of job cuts across the banking sector as worried chief executives face the prospect of a grim 2009.

Most at risk are those who work in trading and investment banking, where the near-collapse of takeover activity means there are few deals to finance – and fewer fees to share out.


The likes of Citigroup and Goldman Sachs are already making significant cuts, but the FT reports that the US blue chip banks could lose another 70,000 people around the world. As the collapse of Lehman Brothers showed, London is unlikely to escape the damage.

The prospect of another army of well-paid bankers marching out of Canary Wharf carrying their belongings in a cardboard box is not the only indication that the crisis is escalating. This morning we heard from Majestic Wine that sales of champagne are sliding, while car dealer Pendragon reported that the value of second-hand 4x4s and executive cars have fallen sharply – presumably because the market has been flooded with them.

With Dairy Crest cutting 100 jobs and Nationwide announcing a rise in bad debts, Gordon Brown's rumoured economic stimulus package had better be a good one.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/blog ... on-jobcuts