J.P. Morgan Chase is to cut investment banking jobs in Europe as part of an end-of-year business review, sources familiar with the bank said on Monday. The bank employs about 6,000 investment bank staff in Europe and the cutbacks could represent about 5 percent of that total, they said. J.P. Morgan declined to comment.
The US investment bank usually reviews staffing at the end of each year and trims in some areas so it can invest in others. Sources said the bank was looking to expand in the "prime brokerage" business that services hedge funds, as well as in exotic options.
The bank suffered a 3 percent drop in revenues in the third quarter to $2.7 billion, with fixed income revenues of $1.1 billion down 23 percent from the third quarter of 2003 due to weak trading results.