Morgan Stanley Plans Large Layoffs

Morgan Stanley Chief Executive Officer James Gorman Interview
James Gorman, chief executive officer of Morgan Stanley, poses for a portrait following a Bloomberg Television interview on the sidelines of the Morgan Stanley 13th Annual Asia-Pacific Summit in Singapore, on Thursday, Nov. 13, 2014. Gorman said major Group of 20 countries need to thaw relations to ensure regional issues dont hamper world economic growth. Photographer: Bryan van der Beek/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Photograph by Bryan van der Beek — Bloomberg via Getty Images

Morgan Stanley (MS) plans to cut up to 25% of its fixed-income jobs, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The workforce reduction will be across all regions and is set to take place in the next two weeks, the person said.

The news was first reported by Bloomberg earlier on Monday.

The Wall Street bank reported a 42% slide in bond trading in the third quarter, one of its worst performances since the financial crisis.

Morgan Stanley Chief Executive James Gorman has been focusing on equities trading and–particularly–wealth management as profit drivers for the No. 6 U.S. bank by assets as stricter regulations and capital requirements make it more difficult to trade bonds.

Ted Pick, who was in charge of the company’s equities business, was picked by Gorman last month to oversee its entire trading business to facilitate better coordination between the firm’s bond and equities desks.

Morgan Stanley declined to comment.

The company’s shares, which have fallen just over 11% this year, were up 1.5% on Monday to just over $34.