FirstFT: Banks reverse post-pandemic hiring spree with 60,000 job cuts in 2023

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Sadly we’ve got a dark begin, with the information that world banks minimize greater than 60,000 jobs this yr. In response to Monetary Instances calculations (which didn’t embrace smaller banks or minor workers cuts), this was one of many heaviest years for job losses because the monetary disaster.

As Owen Walker experiences, funding banks suffered a second consecutive yr of plummeting charges as dealmaking and public listings dried up, leaving Wall Road making an attempt to guard revenue margins by lowering headcount.

“There isn’t a stability, no funding, no development in most banks — and there are more likely to be extra job cuts,” mentioned Lee Thacker, proprietor of monetary companies headhunting agency Silvermine Companions, including: “There are some very good items being despatched to bosses for the time being.” 

Learn the total FT evaluation, together with the largest cutters, from Wells Fargo to JPMorgan Chase.

5 extra high tales

1. An enormous rally has left some big-name fund managers nervous that markets now look extremely susceptible to disappointing financial information. Shares and bonds have ripped increased over the previous two months, with the ascent leaving US equities near their highest ranges on file. Our markets editor Katie Martin delves into what might occur subsequent.

2. Alexei Navalny mentioned he was “high-quality” and had been relocated to a brand new penal colony within the Russian Arctic, after supporters misplaced observe of him for 3 weeks. “I now dwell above the Arctic Circle,” the jailed Russian opposition chief mentioned in a message on social media. Learn the total story.

3. Benjamin Netanyahu informed Israeli troopers that the battle towards Hamas wouldn’t cease as he visited northern Gaza yesterday. “Whoever talks about stopping, there isn’t any such factor,” the prime minister mentioned, in an alternate revealed by the federal government. “The battle will proceed till the top.”

4. Brazil’s surroundings minister has demanded a “ceiling” on oil manufacturing. Marina Silva’s feedback solid her in opposition to her personal authorities, which plans to show the nation into one of many greatest crude producers by 2029.

5. European plans of making a battery provide chain for electrical vehicles unbiased of China face large delays as corporations concentrate on the US market due to clear power subsidies, a high producer has warned. The top of Canadian battery supplies producer Novonix informed the FT that the US Inflation Discount Act was luring producers away from Europe. Extra from our interview with Chris Burns.

We’re additionally studying . . . 

The world’s largest charitable basis: The controlling shareholder of precious Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk is little-known exterior Nordic nations, however greater than the Invoice & Melinda Gates Basis. How did this occur?

Superforecasting: How did FT readers fare towards consultants’ predictions for 2023? The outcomes might provide insights into enhance your forecasts for the following yr.

Magnificent Seven: Katie Martin explains why the time period, which refers to a gaggle of huge tech shares that has dominated world markets, encapsulates the yr for her.

The wildest tales from 132 years of FT Historical past: Sit again and revel in a few of our best-ever reads, from the girl with the very best IQ to Moscow’s stray canines . . . 

Probably the most-read story of 2023

Because the yr involves an finish, we’re going to share a few of our most-read tales of 2023 with you, beginning with the most well-liked of all.

Maybe surprisingly, it’s an interview, not a information story, and was written in February. Henry Mance talked to economist Mariana Mazzucato who argued that large consultancies have been hobbling the governments they suggested. The fascinating piece coated areas from the moon landings to reforming the civil service. Don’t miss it.

Further contributions from Tee Zhuo