In 2023, BNYM had 53,400 FT employees. In the annual report for 2025, there were 48,100 FT employees. Today there are 47,200 and dropping. That’s $1B in cash cuts being counted as profit!!! BNY is hiding poor negative cash flow without truly running and growing the business!!!!! BNY has reduced headcount 12% in 3 years and AI has had nothing to do with it. It’s easy to say your BMI is lower if you cut off a leg. It however doesn’t mean you are able and healthy. Of the 6200 FTE’s who have been consumed by Robin’s ‘cannibits’ , you can be assured that a very high percentage of these were so called bottom performers…..
Yes, RV’s strategy is the ‘serve mankind cookbook’ from the ‘Twilight Zone’.
8 replies (most recent on top)
@OP excellent post. This kind of really puts it in black and white facts. And the other commenters are right. It’s far worse than the 6200 employees removed on the surface when you consider many Americans being swapped out for cheap, low grade India with no benefits.
And surely many of the people who got whacked were given low performance on purpose. Still…… even here Robin is below expectations, as it will take 22 years at this rate to get rid of everyone for Eliza LOL
@OP excellent post. This kind of really puts it in black and white facts. And the other commenters are right. It’s far worse than the 6200 employees removed on the surface when you consider many Americans being swapped out for cheap, low grade India with no benefits.
And surely many of the people who got whacked were given low performance on purpose. Still…… even here Robin is below expectations, as it will take 22 years at this rate to get rid of everyone for Eliza LOL
@ew I agree. BNY did axe high performers. I do not subscribe to this belief that all of these eliminations in personnel were the lowest performers by department. BNY is like any other firm. They do review which employee may fall under a protected class and where BNY diversity quotas need to reach. BNY leadership will away eliminate the easiest employees first.
Once you figure BNY diversity quotes, employees in the BNY neurodivergent program, and low-level department leadership protecting their "work friends" from layoff... yes, BNY lost employees that met or exceeds expectations by jockeying vulnerable employees away from layoff.
@e0 Excellent post (and response to OP, who also sums up the firm very well) - this is a spot-on summary of BNY today. The biggest issue is the lack of top-line growth once market effects are stripped out and all the mismanagement stems from that. Sadly, hard to see it improving any day soon.
@e0, you're correct that there is absolutely no reason to keep employees in the dark. People fear change but the fear the unknown more. But you're incorrect about them getting rid of the lowest performing 10-20% of staff. There have been PLENTY of high performance individuals axed.
Actually, your BMI would go up if you cut off your leg. Even with your canckles...
The issue with BNY and firms that adopt similar downsizing processes are the main complaint among former employees. If BNY aims to rightsize its company, that is their prerogative. However, it is the alarming depreciation of employee performance, secretive plans to close locations, and lack of communication regarding ongoing changes that are particularly concerning.
It is of importance to note that for 2024, BNY targeted 10% of its staff for elimination. In 2025, this increased to a potential 10-15%, with an additional 10% marked as borderline for possible elimination. Concerns regarding the rumored percentages for 2026 are understandable . It is difficult to view BNY as a functional firm when each calendar year begins with a predetermined quota for employee reductions. These are arbitrary numbers to reduce cost. Nothing more.
I have former colleagues still employed at BNY. Between the restructure of workflow, forced AI involvement, and lack of personnel... some of these departments are simply not functioning. A large number of SMEs were lost. A common thread among these individuals: they don't like working for BNY, each are looking for new employment, each feel their respective departments are on the cusp of implosion. For some, when an unexpected resignation happens or when a peer goes on vacation... the department workflow grinds to a snails pace.
If BNY would have approached these layoffs with transparency, I believe there would have been less ill will against the firm. The idea that every year they plan to cut the lowest performing 10-20% of staff, in each respected department, is just silly and not accurate measure of individual performance.
The question is: What happens when BNY can no longer cut their way to quarterly profits? As stated, their AI initiative will be a bust. What happens when stagnate quarterly returns are the new normal for BNY? Replace EC? Do they pivot to Pune for additional savings? Throw more money towards McKinsey for a new model?
I believe there is an interview with RV in which he mentions seeing a news story about Tesla's autonomous vehicle development, which inspired him to pursue the integration of AI at BNY. The entirety of BNY is nonsensical. Pressers that promote new fin tech, but cost savings are actually by-way-of the tried and true classics of: layoffs, out-sourcing, off-shoring, and the sale of assets.
Sadly, the loss of American jobs is much higher.
Those numbers include tons of India employees hired over the last few years so the US BNY job loss is much greater than those 6k employees