-- Daniel Flatt
London securitization teams have suffered from widespread job losses from major U.S. investment banks as protracted stagnation in the European market has hit business hard. Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan and Bear Stearns have all quietly trimmed their London-based securitization teams in the last month, belying the immunity The City has supposedly enjoyed from the blizzard of pink slips blowing across the Street.
At Bear Stearns at least nine staffers from the commercial mortgage-backed, collateralized debt obligation, and financial analytics and structured transactions group were axed last Monday as part of the global cull of 300 made the same day. Bear Stearns officials declined comment.
JPMorgan is understood to have cut seven members of its London cash CDO team. Four of a team of 10 structurers were let go, along with three out of the eight on the syndicate desk. The bank will reportedly make more cuts across the board based on its 2008 outlook, according to officials close to the situation. JPMorgan spokesmen declined comment.
In addition, Morgan Stanley has reduced its structured products team by about 25 people from a team of approximately 110, with reductions across all divisions, including asset-backed securities research and syndication and CDO syndication and distribution. The reduction is understood to be part of the global reduction of 300 staffers, the majority of which are in the fixed-income division.