Layoff List Grows: Morgan Stanley to Cut 1,600 Jobs

Investment bank Morgan Stanley (MS: 15.22, +0.16, +1.10%) disclosed plans on Thursday to lay off 1,600 workers, underscoring the cost-cutting effort on Wall Street fueled by slumping trading revenue and global uncertainty.

New York-based Morgan said the job cuts will occur in the first quarter of next year and span its operations around the world.

"As we conduct our year-end performance management process and evaluate the right size of the franchise for 2012, we anticipate the elimination of approximately 1,600 positions across the firm globally impacting all job levels,” a Morgan Stanley spokesperson told FOX Business.

However, Morgan Stanley, which co-owns retail brokerage Smith Barney with Citigroup (C: 26.23, +0.18, +0.69%), told Dow Jones Newswires no financial advisers will be affected by the job cuts.

Shares of Morgan, which have plunged 50% so far this year, rose 2.52% to $15.43 Thursday morning, outpacing a 1.60% gain on the KBW banking exchange-traded fund.

Morgan Stanley is joining a growing list of financial-services companies to lower headcount, including Goldman Sachs (GS: 92.92, -0.33, -0.35%) and Citigroup (C: 26.23, +0.18, +0.69%). Last month Bank of America (BAC: 5.25, +0.02, +0.38%), the No. 2 U.S. bank by assets, said it plans to slash 30,000 jobs as it targets $5 billion in annual savings.

European lenders Barclays (BCS: 10.63, -0.01, -0.09%) and HSBC (HBC: 37.29, +0.13, +0.35%), each of which have a large U.S. presence, have also disclosed job cuts.

Financial-services companies have been searching for ways to lower costs as their profits have been hurt by the European sovereign debt crisis, tough economy, increased regulation and shrinking trading revenue.

In his 2011 annual report on the securities industry, New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli said the New York securities industry could cut nearly 10,000 jobs by the end of 2012 -- bringing total industry job losses to 32,000 since January 2008.