Morgan Stanley to Cut 1,600 Jobs

Morgan Stanley (MS) is planning to cut roughly 1,600 jobs across the firm in the first quarter to boost results, the company said Thursday.

“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, to take place early in the first quarter of 2012,” the investment bank said in a statement.

The company, which has about 62,000 employees, has seen its shares decline sharply this year.

Globally, the largest financial firms have disclosed plans to eliminate more than 200,000 jobs in 2011 due to market volatility, economic weakness and fallout from Europe’s sovereign debt crisis, according to a Bloomberg report.