Report: investment bank slashes jobs in Asia


More than a quarter of J.P. Morgan's Asia-based investment bankers work out of the finance hub of Hong Kong

HONG KONG, China -- Leading investment bank J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. has slashed as much as one quarter of its work force in Asia, according to a report.

J.P. Morgan Chase has cut between 80 and 100 investment bankers this year, Reuters news service stated on Friday. That is between 20 and 25 percent of its banking staff in Asia.

The cuts have quietly occurred since the start of the year and have already taken place, the wire service stated. They leave around 350 investment bankers working in Asia for the company.

New York City-based J.P. Morgan is one of Wall Street's biggest investment banking players. Chase Manhattan Bank took it over to form J.P. Morgan Chase. Its fortunes are directly linked to Wall Street, and the highly profitable advisory business of investment banking.

A worldwide trend

Thanks to Chase's assets in traditional banking, it is now the second-largest finance group in the United States, after Citigroup, which bought investment bank Salomon Smith Barney.

Rivals such as Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs have already trimmed positions worldwide as a result of the current downturn.

Other investment banks such as ABN Amro have slashed Asian operations, with ABN Amro eliminating its equities department in Japan altogether.

J.P. Morgan Chase has 7,000 employees in Asia, Reuters reports, with around 2,000 of them working out of the regional hub of Hong Kong.