The 11,000 job cuts unveiled by Citigroup last week are not expected to have a huge impact on Asia – but there is an argument that they should, at least in its equities business. Asia may promise the best economic growth in coming years but for Citi and its peers that is unlikely to mean a big pick-up in their equities operations.
Globally, the sales and trading side of investment banking is suffering the structural change of rapid automation and the demand for cheaper dealing costs. Both equity trading and the capital-raising businesses have been hurt this year by the collapse in risk appetite. New listings and trading volumes on the world’s leading exchanges are at multiyear lows.
Risk appetite is cyclical – but for Hong Kong and mainland China there are deeper issues to be solved. They stem from the hangover left by frantic new listing activity in Hong Kong and Shanghai in recent years.