BNY Mellon to cut 3% of workforce this year - source

By Manya Saini

(Reuters) -Bank of New York Mellon Corp is planning to cut around 3% of its workforce this year, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters on Friday, joining a number of Wall Street firms in trimming headcount to cope with turbulent markets.

The layoffs, first reported by the Wall Street Journal, translate to about 1,500 jobs of the bank's total reported headcount of 51,700 as of end-2022.

Shares in BNY Mellon were up 2.4% in afternoon trading.

Goldman Sachs and BlackRock Inc are also cutting jobs, sources told Reuters earlier this week, as high interest rates threaten the economic outlook and dampen dealmaking.

Wall Street's biggest banks kicked off the earnings season by earmarking more rainy-day funds to prepare for a possible recession ahead and reported weak investment banking results.

BNY Mellon reported a 38% drop in fourth-quarter profit to $509 million.

Chief Executive Robin Vince in a post-earnings call with analysts acknowledged that the company was facing inflationary headwinds, and added that the bank's expense growth was high.

Non-interest expense increased 8% in the quarter, primarily reflecting higher severance costs.

"We consider that number too high, especially considering the expense growth benefited from a stronger U.S. dollar throughout the year," Vince said.

(Reporting by Niket Nishant and Manya Saini in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika Syamnath)