JPMorgan Chase & Co., Bank of America Corp., Morgan Stanley and Citigroup Inc. all continued hiring in the fourth quarter, while at Wells Fargo & Co. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc., headcount dropped, according to fresh figures provided by the banks.
Employment numbers at banks are a closely watched sign of health in the business, as well as being an indicator of spending power among higher-paid workers on things like luxury real estate and other high-ticket items.
Last week, Goldman Sachs Group Inc.
GS,
-7.76%
shed up to 3,200 jobs and BlackRock Inc.
BLK,
-1.04%
cut 500 positions as the financial sector adjusts to rising expectations of a recession in 2023. Those headcount numbers will be factored into first-quarter figures from the big banks due out in April and were not reflected in fourth-quarter results.
Terrence Horan/MarketWatch
Also read: BlackRock cutting 500 jobs or less than 3% of workforce
Although JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley, Bank of America and Citigroup are working to shore up their balance sheets in uncertain economic times, they ended the year by adding more staff.
At the end of 2022, the pace of hiring compared with the previous quarter slowed at JPMorgan and Citigroup but held steady at Bank of America.
JPMorgan Chase
JPM,
-2.07%
ended the fourth quarter with 293,723 employees, up 1.7% from 288,474 in the third quarter.
In the previous quarter, JPMorgan’s headcount grew by 3.6% to 288,474 at the end of the third quarter, up from 278,494 at the end of the second quarter.
Brian Shepardson, a portfolio manager at James Balanced Golden Rainbow Fund
GLRBX,
+0.16%,
which owns shares of JPMorgan Chase, said the bank’s head-count increase mostly met expectations.
“The head-count number is not a great surprise — they didn’t add a tremendous amount of people where it will impact costs,” he said. “They’re really good at looking ahead to see where they’re going next.”
Meanwhile, Bank of America
BAC,
-2.33%
ended the fourth quarter with 216,823 workers, up 1.7% from 213,270 in the third quarter. The company’s headcount grew by 1.6% in the previous quarter, from 209,824 to 213,270.
Citigroup
C,
+0.50%
ended the fourth quarter with 240,000 workers, up 2,000 or about 0.8% from 238,000 in the third quarter. In the three months ended Sept. 30, Citi hired about 7,000 workers to increase its ranks by 3%, to 238,00 from 231,000.
Wells Fargo
WFC,
-0.64%
ended the fourth quarter with 238,698 people on staff, down by 511 from 239,209 at the end of the third quarter and below the year-ago level of 249,435.
Just this week, Wells Fargo said it would reduce the size of its lending business.
Goldman Sachs trimmed about 1.2% of its staff during the fourth quarter, then orchestrated a 6% cut in January as it pared back its consumer lending businesses. Goldman also missed its fourth-quarter earnings and revenue targets, sending its stock down 7.5% on Tuesday.
Morgan Stanley stock rose 6.8% after it beat its revenue and profit targets.
Also Read: Goldman Sachs misses its earnings estimate, while Morgan Stanley beats as profits drop
