Morgan Stanley, HSBC said to cut Asia investment-banking jobs (NYSE:MS)

With business outlooks hindered by a dealmaking drought and sluggish market conditions in China, Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) is planning to axe about 50 investment-banking staffers in the Asia-Pacific region, according to a recent media report.

China, the world’s second-biggest economy, is grappling with instability amid a lingering property crisis and ongoing uncertainty surrounding economic growth.

At least 80% of the planned job reductions will be in China and Hong Kong, impacting some 13% of the 400 bankers in the region, excluding Japan, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter. Timing and the final size of the layoffs are subject to change.

Last month, Reuters reported that Morgan Stanley (MS) had culled some 9% of its workers at its asset management unit in China.

Though Morgan Stanley (MS) posted Tuesday stronger-than-expected Q1 earnings, helped by a credit benefit, rebounding investment banking activity, and rising wealth management revenue, its net revenue from Asia retreated 12% to $1.74B from a year ago.

HSBC Holdings (NYSE:HSBC) has already started a fresh round of layoffs of some 12 bankers, Bloomberg reported Tuesday, joining a barrage of financial heavyweights in cutting jobs, including Bank of America (BAC), UBS Group (UBS), Citigroup (C), JPMorgan Chase (JPM) and Goldman Sachs (GS).