Wall Street banks seen enduring deeper cuts to boost profits

NEW YORK: Wall Street banks just eked out their most profitable year since before the financial crisis by slashing budgets. Can they top that?

The sobering answer for many is that they can – if they cut even deeper than they did in 2015, when they reduced costs by 13% and shed more than 20,000 jobs. The five major US investment banks generated US$70bil of net income in 2015 by shaving expenses to the lowest level in seven years, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.