As Goldman, Bank of America cut heads, complaints of "tepid" hiring
If not now, then when? After the high hopes for investment banking revenues in 2025, geopolitical turmoil and tariff threats seem to be taking their toll on fees. Banking jobs are responding accordingly.
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As the chart below, based on data from Dealogic, shows, global fees earned across M&A, syndicated loans and equity and debt capital markets deals are down nearly 12% so far this year compared to 2024. 2025 has begun as the second-worst year for banking fees since 2020.
This helps explain why banks are cutting jobs. As we reported yesterday, Goldman Sachs has expedited its annual round of underperformer layoffs and will be cutting 3-5% of its people in May, instead of in September as has happened in recent years. Bank of America is also cutting heads in its investment banking team and senior Citi people have been leaving for reasons that are not entirely clear.
Citi's exits include David Finkelstein, the global head of consumer and retail M&A, who is reportedly leaving in New York. Bank of America's cuts include the likes of Rishi Jhaver, a New York MD who was promoted in 2023 and Scott Berman, a financial sponsors MD who joined in 2019.
Goldman, BofA and Citi aren't commenting on the exits, but the fear is that the indicate another year of wary recruitment. The head of one New York-based search firm said hiring is "tepid." - "It's not more than usual and is certainly below 2022."
Barney Mundell, an M&A headhunter in London, said hiring seemed to be heating up a few weeks ago, but that things have since fallen back and that recruitment is now merely "lukewarm" instead.
Julian Bell at search firm Sheffield Haworth says his team went into this year expecting hiring to be at its most active since 2022. This isn't the case at tier one banks. But the market isn't dead either: "There is certainly more hiring underway, just not at the biggest tier one names."
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