The number of investment banking jobs at the world’s largest banks has fallen by around 5.6% over the past 12 months, according to Financial News analysis, as financial institutions look to stave off the impact of increased costs and declining fee revenues.

According to FN analysis of eight investment banks to have published staff numbers in their second quarter results, global investment banking headcount fell from 176,495 at the end of June 2011 to 166,606 at the end of June 2012, a decline of 5.6%.