Morning Coffee: Barclays is cutting jobs and no one should be surprised. Ken Moelis can still collect $25m and do less work
Barclays is back with the job cuts. Bloomberg reported yesterday that the bank is "preparing" to cut 200 jobs from its investment bank in the coming days.
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This isn't the first time Barclays has cut jobs in 2025. Around 50 technology jobs were removed in January. Last year, Barclays cut jobs in March and then again in May. It's the proverbial death by a thousand cuts.
Anyone surprised by Barclays' employee extractions has not been paying attention. Last year, the British bank committed to cutting £700m ($942m) in costs from its investment bank before 2026. In the first quarter of 2025, the bank said it plans to cut £500m in costs from across the bank this year.
Barclays has a cost target for the investment bank that implies even higher cuts if revenues flounder. It wants costs in the investment bank to consume in the "high 50%s" of revenues by 2026, but in 2024, the cost income ratio was 67%. The implication is that either full year revenues in the investment bank need to rise by £1.6bn compared to last year, or costs must be cut by £943m.
So, who's going at Barclays this week? Bloomberg says people in investment banking, research and global markets will be affected and that the cuts will be skewed towards expensive managing directors (MDs).
Separately, Ken Moelis, the banker's banker and head of notoriously grindy boutique Moelis & Co. has discovered a way of earning $25m while taking his foot slightly off the pedal.
The Financial Times notes that 66-year-old Ken was given a $25m retention bonus in February this year, which he will receive as long as he's in a senior job at his eponymous boutique until February 2029.
Ken had been CEO. Yesterday, he announced he will become executive chairman instead. “This is the right moment to elevate the next generation of leadership and create further opportunities for internal growth," Ken declared. It may also be the right moment to do a little less work.
Meanwhile...
Ken Moelis was the top US dealmaker at UBS before the financial crisis. (Bloomberg)
Jefferies has begun offering outsourced fixed income trading. It's recruited nine new traders already and wants another eight. Clear Street is hiring in the area too: it's added six traders and wants 20 in 18 months. (Bloomberg)
Citadel has been building a central risk project under Philippe Derimay, a former head of quant development. It's a "massive game changer" (Citadel)
Citadel and Citadel Securities only accepted 0.4% of this year's summer internship applicants. The two firms had 108,000 applicants - up 20% from last year. (Business Insider)
UBS hired software bankers David Larsen and Robert Michlovich from Bank of America. (Global Capital)
Estimates suggest 40,000 financial services roles have moved from London to the EU because of Brexit. Wall Street banks added 11,000 jobs in Europe. (Financial News)
Fortress Investment Group is doubling its London office space to 20,000 square foot. (Bloomberg)
Jain Global’s UK entity paid £34m in wages and salaries to staff between 1 September 2023 and 31 December 2024, split between an average of 28 employees. (Financial News)
HSBC, JPMorgan, and BBVA have all decided they don't have enough office space now that they want people back in the office. (Bloomberg)
Twelve leading banks together made $500m in revenue from precious metals in the first quarter of 2025, the second-highest figure in a decade. (Bloomberg)
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