Goldman Sachs plans rolling staff cuts across business lines

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Goldman Sachs staff cuts plan

Highlights

Goldman Sachs will replace its usual spring SRA with ongoing, smaller staff reductions across divisions starting April and continuing through summer 2024.
The workforce cuts, spanning investment banking and asset and wealth management, are not tied to the October One Goldman Sachs strategy but reflect a continuous efficiency focus.
Despite a 9% revenue increase to over $58 billion in 2025, Goldman Sachs joins peers like Citi and Amazon in adopting rolling layoffs amid broader sector cost pressures.

Shift from annual review to rolling reductions

Goldman Sachs has historically carried out staff reductions through formal spring and fall reviews, often trimming the lowest-performing portion of its global workforce in a single exercise. This year, according to Business Insider, the bank is not conducting its usual spring Strategic Resource Assessment, known internally as the SRA. Instead, divisional leaders are expected to manage a series of smaller reductions over several months.The first round is expected in April, with further cuts continuing through the summer. People familiar with the matter say this structure gives business heads more flexibility on timing rather than waiting for a firmwide process. One person with direct knowledge also says a more traditional SRA could still take place later in the year.The reductions are set to span the investment bank as well as the firm's growing asset and wealth management operations. Final numbers and affected roles have not yet been determined. Goldman Sachs says it does not comment on specific head count targets for workforce reduction actions.

Efficiency drive and industry-wide cost pressure

A Goldman Sachs spokesperson says regular and consistent head count management is standard for a public company and that the bank continuously reviews performance and talent across divisions. Two people cited in the report say the planned cuts are not tied to the latest version of the bank's One Goldman Sachs strategy, announced in October. That initiative is intended to integrate businesses more closely and improve efficiency, including through AI.In its latest earnings report covering 2025 results, Goldman Sachs reports full-year revenue of more than $58 billion, up 9% from the prior year. The bank's staffing actions therefore come alongside revenue growth rather than in response to a disclosed earnings decline. The combination suggests management is continuing to focus on operating efficiency and workforce calibration even as business performance improves.Goldman's move also fits into a broader pattern of layoffs across large U.S. companies this year. Citi and Amazon have announced workforce reductions, and software groups such as Atlassian and Block have also cut jobs. For the financial sector, the shift toward more frequent, smaller reductions may point to a more continuous cost-management model rather than reliance on a single seasonal review.

We previously reported on HSBC’s potential restructuring plan that could eliminate up to 20,000 jobs, with the main impact expected in middle and back office roles. That article also noted the cost-cutting rationale behind the move, linked to increased automation and AI adoption, and outlined the market’s cautious reaction as discussions continued without final decisions.

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