The City of London has long expected a wave of job cuts, as investment banks have launched strategic reviews of their business lines this year, but this week has been one of the bloodiest so far for employee layoffs.

On Tuesday afternoon, around 150 staff across UniCredit's western European equities business were let go. This followed the bank's announcement that it would exit the business and in future rely on a strategic alliance with Kepler Capital Markets for research and distribution in equity capital markets transactions.