Clearly not immune to the economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic, Goldman Sachs (GS 1.78%) is enacting a fresh round of job cuts. On Thursday the storied financial services company admitted it will conduct "a modest number of layoffs," according to a spokesperson.
That acknowledgement comes just after a report from Bloomberg. Citing "people with knowledge of the situation," the report said that the company would be jettisoning around 400 employees. That comprises around 1% of its total workforce.
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Due to its core of investment banking and trading, which as segments have done comparatively well during the outbreak, Goldman has weathered the current crisis better than purer-play retail banks (these are more dependent on loans). Still, there are fears that the pandemic will last longer than many originally expected, and the company may feel that slimming down is an appropriate precautionary measure.
According to the Bloomberg report, many of the planned job cuts are in back-office positions that have been moved into larger company divisions due to a recent reorganization. Goldman said in January that it was targeting an efficiency ratio -- which measures a bank's net revenue against its operating costs -- of 60% within the next three years; that figure was 68% last year.
Neither Goldman nor the sources from the Bloomberg article provided any reason or reasons for the culls. It is also unclear when they will occur. Earlier this year, at the start of the pandemic, Goldman said it would suspend job cuts. At the time, however, expectations were widespread that the outbreak would subside within a few months.
