Tullett Prebon cut 200 jobs amid profits dive

The firm have been forced to wield the axe after being hit by an unprecedented calm in the financial markets

Terry Smith, founder of Tullett, said the company expect market conditions to "continue to be difficult".

Glenn Copus

29 July 2014

Broker Tullett Prebon slashed more than 200 jobs today as unprecedented calm in financial markets and a regulatory crackdown on its customers hit trading activity.

Tullett unveiled the plans to cut 210 staff — 160 in the front office and 50 in the back — alongside a 15% slide in first-half revenues and a painful 31% decline in pre-tax profits to £43.2 million.

The firm hopes to save more than £40 million a year through the cull.

The company acts as a go-between for banks looking to make big trades in bonds, shares, currencies and derivatives, competing against the likes of Icap, Tradition, BGC Partners and GFI.

But a “more onerous” regulatory environment for banks has reduced risk appetite and their ability to trade, while emergency monetary policy settings have quashed volatility.

Founder Terry Smith, who is handing over to former Lehman Brothers big-hitter John Phizackerley in September, said: “We cannot predict when the level of activity in the financial markets we serve may increase, and it would be prudent to expect that market conditions will continue to be difficult.”