UK jobs at risk as Goldman Sachs cuts workforce by 10%

by Gill Montia

Story link: UK jobs at risk as Goldman Sachs cuts workforce by 10%

Goldman Sachs says it is cutting its workforce by 10%.

Around 3,250 jobs will go worldwide and an estimated 600 staff could lose their jobs in the UK, where the investment banks employs around 6,000, mainly in London.

The move is linked to the latest turmoil in the global financial sector, sparked by the collapse of Lehman Brothers in mid-September.

It may also be in response to Goldman Sachs’ change of status to a bank holding company.

The problems of Lehman Brothers raised doubts that the firm could survive as an investment bank and its conversion to commercial bank status has allowed permanent access to emergency funding from the US Federal Reserve.

It has also provided an opportunity for Goldman to bolster its balance sheet by taking retail deposits.

The bank has actually weathered the credit crisis well, compared to many of its rivals, however, during the third quarter of the 2007/08 fiscal year, profit declined 71.1%.