Macquarie Group will cut half of its investment banking jobs in Asia as the sector undergoes a transformation in the region, according to several people familiar with the situation cited in the media.
The Australian banking group will cut as many as 100 jobs in investment banking although it will close no offices. Banks in Asia are aiming to steer away from a primary focus on large deals and seek new business models to ensure profit, the Financial Times reports, citing various unidentified sources. Bloomberg News, also citing multiple unidentified sources, says the bank plans to cut 80 or 90 jobs.
Among the employees reportedly losing their jobs are several senior figures, including Macquarie’s M&A and industrials banking head for Asia, Richard Griffiths, Jeremy Wernert, who became head of Macquarie Capital for Asia year last, and Cheun Hon Ho, head of equity capital markets in Asia, Bloomberg reports. Most of the cuts will come in Hong Kong, Singapore, Korea, India and Japan; no jobs will be lost in Australia.
‘Asian investment banking is very competitive and Macquarie’s move may be reflective of its general strategy,’ says TS Lim, an analyst at Bell Potter Securities, in an interview with Bloomberg. ‘It’s about reducing headcount in Asia and concentrating on successful markets such as Australia and North America, and it goes with the trend of investing in non-cyclical businesses.’
So far this year, Standard Chartered has closed its global equities business (with most of the 200 job cuts coming in Asia), Goldman Sachs has said it will eliminate about 30 percent of the jobs from its Singapore office, and CIMB has cut 50 jobs in Malaysia. Citigroup, Nomura and Royal Bank of Scotland have also all announced job cuts this year.
