Morgan Stanley Decides to Cut Around 2,000 Employees

American investment bank Morgan Stanley has decided to cut about 2,000 employees at the end of March, the first time such mass layoffs have taken place under CEO Ted Peek, Bloomberg reported , citing people familiar with the matter.

Peake took over as CEO in early 2024 , and he also became chairman of the board in early 2025.

The agency's sources said that the bank's management is struggling with staff turnover, so the head office of the financial conglomerate is planning to reduce expenses through layoffs. According to sources, the bank's management plans to retain only about 15,000 financial consultants; the bank employs about 80,000 people in total.

The sources added that some of the upcoming layoffs are related to the performance of some current employees. Others will come from “changes in where some of the company’s employees are based.” And a small portion reflects the impact of artificial intelligence and automation at the company.

Morgan Stanley is an American financial conglomerate founded in 1935. The company owns the world's largest brokerage business. Its main areas of activity are mergers and acquisitions, placement of shares and bonds, trading on stock and other exchanges, asset management.

Meanwhile, Morgan Stanley co-president Dan Simkowitz said on March 18 that the bank is "increasing real headcount" at the top levels of investment banking as it waits for capital markets to recover.

The U.S. stock market has lost $5 trillion in three weeks as President Donald Trump's trade war escalates with several of the United States' major trading partners, including China and Canada, CNBC reported on March 14.

Trump also recently refused to rule out the risk of a recession in the country, saying that the American economy is “going through a transition period” when import tariffs come into effect .

In 2025, Morgan Stanley shares fell by 6%, the worst result among the largest US banks, Bloomberg clarified. The plan for these layoffs was developed even before the recent market crisis.

The layoffs at Morgan Stanley will be the latest in a series of staff cuts across Wall Street due to the uncertain economic outlook, the agency notes.

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