Morgan Stanley to cut 4 pc workforce

Washington, Feb 4: In the wake of ongoing economic meltdown, it is learnt that one of the key investment bank in the world Morgan Stanley is all set to reduce its workforce by about 4 pc that is to cut 1,800 employees.

A report is Financial Times read, "Morgan Stanley is preparing to cut up to 1,800 jobs, or about 4 pc of its global workforce, as the financial crisis continues to take its toll on Wall Street." Reports suggest that other than the wealth management unit, all sections of Morgan Stanley will be hit by the decision. "The cuts were likely to fall more heavily on the bank's back-office and support functions," the report added.

The report claims that the company took the decision to shrink its balance sheet and workforce to cope with the crisis. For the full year 2008, Morgan Stanley's profits tumbled to 1.7 billion dollars, compared with 3.2 billion dollars in the year-ago period. While its balance sheet dropped from "1,000 billion dollars-worth of assets to 650 billion dollars as the company slashed its debt levels".

Thousands of people lost job specially in the financial institutions in recent months as the companies are struggling to cope up with the ongoing economic recession.

OneIndia News (With inputs from Agencies)