Morgan Stanley to cut 1,600 jobs

NEW YORK -- The investment bank Morgan Stanley plans to cut about 1,600 jobs, nearly 3 percent of its workforce, a person familiar with the bank said Wednesday. The cuts will focus on senior ranks at the bank.

About half of the cuts will be in the U.S. Morgan Stanley’s investment banking unit has been asked to cut about 6 percent of its staff. Back-office functions, including human resources and communications, have also been asked to cut staff. The person familiar with the matter wasn’t authorized to speak on the record and insisted on remaining anonymous.

Job cuts have become common in the banking industry, which has been shrinking in the years since the financial crisis imploded.

In December, Citigroup said it would cut 11,000 jobs, about 4 percent of its total workforce, and Bank of America has also been trimming jobs.

Morgan Stanley has already been cutting back on jobs and other expenses, as it deals with a sluggish economy and new regulations that are crimping some of its former sources of revenue. As of Sept. 30, the bank had about 57,700 jobs, down about 7 percent from the roughly 62,200 it had the year before.

Employees will find out if they are getting laid off as early as next week, the person familiar with the bank said.