Goldman Sachs cut only one group of people in London after blockbuster year
Goldman Sachs’ London-based business, Goldman Sachs International, published its report for 2025 earlier this month. It did great; revenue was up by 16% to $11.8bn. Somehow, the bank even managed to hire some people across the board. Well, mostly across the board.
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As the chart below shows. Investment banking headcount at Goldman Sachs International was up 8.2%, equities sales & trading headcount up 1.1%, investment management headcount up 10.6%, and even support functions (such as compliance) headcount was up by 9.8%.
There was one exception. The London operation's headcount in fixed income, currencies, and commodities (FICC) sales & trading declined by 6%, going from 694 heads to 655 of them. This was despite FICC revenue at GSI increasing by 13%, going from $3.2bn to $3.6bn.
The decline in FICC headcount was a curiosity, but not entirely surprising. Fixed income trading is going electronic, and traders are being replaced by electronic systems. More surprising was the fact that Goldman increased headcount in its other London divisions. - This is the first time that Goldman increased the number of bankers it employs in London since 2022, and the first time it increased its number of equities traders since 2020. Only support functions have steadily and inevitably crept up over the years, as the chart below shows.
Goldman's fired FICC traders probably aren’t happy with their situation, but whoever’s left at the firm probably is. Goldman Sachs International paid a huge average of $963k per head in its London office in 2025, up 21% on the $795k it paid on average in 2024. That was more than double the $399k Goldman Sachs paid on average globally, according to its Q4 results.
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