How algorithms are redrawing the workforce in banking— the lesson from Morgan Stanley layoffs

For decades, global banking has followed a predictable rhythm. Markets surge and fall, mergers expand balance sheets and contractions trim payrolls, and every few years a large institution announces layoffs that are explained as strategic realignment. The recent decision by Morgan Stanley to cut roughly 2,500 jobs across its global workforce initially appears to belong to that familiar pattern. The bank has been careful to emphasise that the cuts are linked to performance reviews and operational adjustments rather than a direct replacement of people with artificial intelligence.