Fidelity has killed the notion that asset managers don’t lay off as many people as investment banks. The world’s biggest mutual fund manager is apparently gearing up to eliminate 4,000 of its 45,000 global staff in two rounds of layoffs, starting very soon. According to the Wall Street Journal, the ‘core investment management arm’ will not go untouched by the cuts, which are down to the mass withdrawal of investors’ funds.

Credit Suisse, which said last week that it was investing in private banking and transforming investment banking, has furthered the transformation process with the announcement of another 500 job losses in its securities unit.

194,000 jobs to go in London (not all in banking)
(Financial Times).

Pay curb coming at Schroders (Telegraph).

Justifying bonuses at Goldman (Telegraph).

Who said restructuring is booming? Restructuring and bankruptcy revenues down 60% at Lazard (DealBook).

“The effective management of risk is one of the core strengths that has made Lehman Brothers so successful.” (Fortune)

“The earnings contribution of Lehman Brothers remains unclear, and we think the benefits could be small compared with the risks.” (Bloomberg)

While Porsche has been building a secret 74 per cent stake in its rival, the hedge funds have been betting that the shares will fall. The shares soared by 400 per cent in two days (Independent).

“The US authorities should have known – and presumably did know – that by allowing Morgan Stanley and Goldman to become banks they were in effect forcing a serious contraction in the hedge-fund industry.” (BBC)

Rush of bankers who want to be plumbers (The Times)