Wall Street job cuts loom as market turmoil stalls deals

Saeed Azhar

Wed, Mar 26, 2025, 3:04 AM 4 min read

By Saeed Azhar

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. concern banks are poised to chopped much jobs if economical uncertainty continues to measurement connected dealmaking successful the months ahead, according to analysts and recruiters.

U.S. President Donald Trump's threats to enforce tariffs connected trading partners person roiled markets, weighed connected superior markets enactment and raised the hazard of an economical slowdown. The turmoil has taken immoderate of the radiance disconnected Wall Street expectations that deals would prime up this twelvemonth nether a business-friendly administration.

Wall Street banks including JPMorgan and Bank of America person already begun yearly culls targeting underperforming employees, portion Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are readying to laic disconnected unit successful the coming weeks.

If deals bash not retrieve successful the coming months, different large banks and boutiques volition beryllium forced to reevaluate their workforces, analysts and recruiters warned.

"There's an anticipation that concern banking pickup is delayed, not dead," said Mike Mayo, a banking expert astatine Wells Fargo. "But if we're having this treatment successful the mediate of the summer, that could beryllium a antithetic story. If the revenues aren't coming in, past employees carnivore the brunt."

Larger banks are quicker to trim headcount, portion boutiques could travel later, said Chris Connors, main of Johnson Associates, a compensation consultant.

"If the pipeline does not materialize quickly, past they’ll marque moves to trim staffing levels," helium said.

Global concern banking fees fell 6.3% to $16.83 cardinal successful the play from January 1 to March 13, versus $17.96 cardinal a twelvemonth earlier, preliminary information from Dealogic showed. The plunge is adjacent sharper compared with the 4th quarter, erstwhile fees reached $19.96 cardinal arsenic dealmaking rebounded.

U.S. equity offerings person besides slowed this year, with issuance reaching $57 cardinal arsenic of March 19, sliding from astir $69 cardinal during the aforesaid play past year.

An uncertain economical outlook has weighed connected executives' assurance that their companies' stocks tin execute successful the captious quarters aft an archetypal nationalist offering, bankers said.

Bonuses astatine Wall Street banks roseate for past twelvemonth arsenic enactment rebounded, but they could beryllium astatine hazard for 2025, analysts said.

For example, Bank of America's bonus excavation for concern bankers roseate an mean 10% for 2024, Reuters reported successful January. Bank CEOs were besides awarded wage bumps arsenic dealmaking rebounded.

Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon's compensation roseate 26% to $39 cardinal for past year, according to a filing.