LONDON, May 13 (Reuters) - Investments banks cut jobs at the
fastest pace in six years during a first quarter in 2020 even
though the coronavirus pandemic triggered a surge in volatility
and boosted revenues to a five-year high, data published on
Wednesday by research firm Coalition showed.
While investment banks have benefited from the short-term
increase in trading, they are expected to be hit hard by a
global recession triggered by the COVID-19 crisis and have
already imposed hiring freezes.
In Britain for instance, the number of finance professionals
seeking new jobs rose by more than 40% in the first quarter
compared with the last three months of 2019.
Coalition's data showed that the banks' revenues from fixed
income, currencies, and commodities had their strongest first
quarter since 2015, surging 20% to 22.7 billion dollars, as the
financial turmoil from the coronavirus crisis prompted a spike
in trading.
Investment banking divisions, which raise debt and capital
for their clients, generated a 7% increase in revenues, while
revenues from operations involving equity products rose by 3%,
the data from Coalition, which tracks 12 of the largest global
investment banks, said.
But despite the surge in activity, banks continued with
ongoing efforts to cut costs and reduced headcount by an average
of 5%.
Equities divisions bore the brunt of the cuts during the
quarter with a 10% fall in full-time front office employees.
Investment banks' cash equities businesses - servicing
investors who buy and sell shares - has been struggling for
years with falling trade volumes, margin pressures and costly
regulations.
The exit last year of Macquarie Group from European
and U.S. equity trading illustrated these pressures.
Below is Coalition's table showing an overall reduction of
5% in headcount for the 12 global investment banks it covers:
(Reporting by Julien Ponthus. Editing by Jane Merriman)