By Lananh Nguyen and Saeed Azhar
NEW YORK (Reuters) – JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America, the two largest U.S. banks by assets, expressed caution about job cuts in contrast with Goldman Sachs, where hundreds of layoffs could start as early this month.
“You need to very careful when you have a bit of a downturn to start cutting bankers here and there because you will hurt the possibility for growth going forward,” Daniel Pinto, president and chief operating officer of JPMorgan, told investors at a conference Tuesday. “If anything, in some environments like this, there may be some very, very top bankers that you could not access or hire in the past that now they’re available to be hired.”
That stance compares with plans by Goldman Sachs Group Inc, according to a source familiar with the matter, to cut jobs as early as this month after pausing the annual practice for two years during the pandemic.
Wall Street bankers have become increasingly concerned about layoffs in the coming months. As the risk of recession looms and the Federal Reserve raises interest rates to curb inflation, deal markets have dried up.
Despite the investment-banking slowdown, Bank of America is currently satisfied with its staffing levels, the company’s chief executive officer said on Monday.
“We’re fine with our headcount,” Brian Moynihan told Fox News in an interview. “I’m confident if we need to manage headcount when people leave us to go to other employers, we just won’t fill all the jobs, but we’re in good shape.”
(Reporting by Lananh Nguyen and Saeed Azhar; additional reporting by Niket Nishant and Mehnaz Yasmin; editing by Jonathan Oatis)
