City staff bear brunt of market turmoil

CITY workers are watching their backs as banks shed even more staff to reduce overheads. They are bearing the brunt of the stock market turmoil - gone are the fat commissions from corporate transactions and share dealing.

Stockbroker Teather & Greenwood, which employed more than 300 a year ago, has embarked on another round of cuts. It will soon have just 200 employees, down from 235 in May.

Investment bank Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein is likely to axe several hundred jobs after a profits warning from Dresdner's parent Allianz. Allianz is expected to reveal on wednesday that Dresdner bank lost more than $1bn during the first half. Much of this is because of losses at DKW.

'I don't think things are getting any worse, but we do not see any improvement in the short term,' said Nick Stagg, chief operating officer at T&G.

He has already cut £1m of costs by reducing the number of Reuters and Bloomberg data terminals. Teather has received approaches for its asset management arm. It is not in talks but would consider an offer 'at the right price'