Goldman Sachs to lay off several hundred employees September onwards

The New York-based firm said in July that it planned to slow hiring and reinstate annual performance reviews -- foreshadowing the job cuts it planned to undertake later in the year. It’s an effort to rein in expenses amid what it called a “challenging operating environment.”

The reviews are typically used to weed out the worst-performing staff. Goldman could also reduce the pace of replacing staff it loses because of attrition, Chief Financial Officer Denis Coleman said at the time. Goldman had 47,000 employees at the end of the second quarter, compared with 39,100 two years earlier, aided by recent acquisitions.

The New York Times reported earlier Monday that Goldman was preparing job cuts. A Goldman spokeswoman declined to comment.

Like its Wall Street competitors, Goldman has been hurt by the dramatic slowdown in investment banking as the volatility that’s spurred gains for trading also weighed on capital markets and asset management. While the firm’s trading operation posted a 32 percent surge in revenue in the second quarter, investment-banking revenue fell 41 percent, reflecting a sharp drop in underwriting.

Total operating expenses declined in the second quarter from a year earlier as Goldman reduced compensation and benefits, but the company also reported increases in costs from growth initiatives.

Goldman shares are down more than 10 percent this year and about 15 percent from a year ago. That compares with a 7.5 percent drop in the S&P 500 Financials index for the past 12 months.