sources: Goldman cuts M&A jobs as business slows

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Goldman Sachs Group Inc (GS.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) laid off investment bankers last week as it reacts to slowing markets and a slump in merger activity, according to people familiar with the situation and Wall Street recruiters.

The cuts, described as in the hundreds, were concentrated among support staff and junior level bankers. One insider told Reuters that 25 percent of employees at the vice-president level were let go.

In April the world's largest securities firm initiated a round of market-related cuts, hitting such areas as leveraged lending and mortgage securities, though none have been announced publicly.

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Goldman Sachs spokesman Michael DuVally declined to comment specifically to the investment-banking job cuts, but repeated an earlier statement.

"Given market conditions, we have been looking at a number of areas of the firm where we believe we have too many people. We have transferred some to other areas and to other regions, but unfortunately, some people have been asked to leave the firm," he said.

Reuters