Truist laid off dozens of employees in its investment-banking division in late January, Bloomberg reported Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter.
The cuts encompass roughly 5% of the unit, the wire service reported.
“Truist continues to assess and adjust the size of our workforce on an ongoing basis,” bank spokesman Kyle Tarrance told Bloomberg in an emailed statement. “We’re hiring in some areas and rightsizing in others through natural attrition and planned staffing reductions.”
Affected bankers will get priority consideration for other roles within the company, Tarrance said, adding that dismissed employees will receive severance and job-search assistance.
Truist is hardly the first bank in recent weeks to trim its workforce amid economic uncertainty that has slowed dealmaking across the industry. Morgan Stanley in December said it would slash 1,600 jobs. Goldman Sachs in January began a cull that could cut loose 3,200 employees. BNY Mellon and Capital One followed suit later in the month with cuts that affected 1,500 and 1,100 workers, respectively.
Smaller organizations have felt right-sizing pain, too. USAA is cutting 130 jobs in its mortgage division, the San Antonio Express-News reported last week.
Investment-banking income dropped 37% last year, Truist reported on its quarterly earnings call last month, according to Bloomberg. But the bank’s new CFO, Mike Maguire, said that decline “compares favorably to overall industry fee performance,” according to the wire service.
