ClickAJob News

Both Citigroup and Goldman Sachs are set to accelerate their job cuts, sparking fears more staff could be laid off in the financial sector over the next few months.

The Wall Street Journal reported Citigroup is planning aggressive lay-offs in its investment banking division, with staff likely to be told today.

The Financial Times also reported Goldman Sachs is preparing to another round of job cuts and is expected to reduce the headcount at its mergers and acquisition unit by ten per cent.

The credit crunch has depressed activity in these areas, making staff cuts more likely, analysts say.

Entire trading desks in London and New York could be closed, according to reports.

The cuts will mark the first major decision for John Havens, who took over Citigroup's institutional clients group last March.

Citigroup has more than 350,000 employees around the world and has fired at least 9,000 staff as of March 31st.

Mergers and acquisitions is likely to be particularly hard hit by this fresh round of job cuts because it was left relatively unscathed in previous culls.

The credit crunch hit Citigroup hard, and over the past two quarters the bank has lost $15 billion (£7.1 billion). The bank is set to announce further losses in the second quarter.

Goldman Sachs has emerged in a better position from the crisis, and posted a better-than-expected second-quarter profit of $2.09 billion (£1 billion).

But the economic slowdown has also affected its business. The Financial Times has reported that it made more job cuts last week in its investment banking division.