Morgan Stanley is considering laying off up to five percent of its 47,000 employees, while Goldman Sachs is also contemplating further cuts in staff after letting go about 10 percent of its employees late last year, the paper said.

The cuts at Morgan will be finalised in the next two weeks and would likely impact back-office and support functions including technology, infrastructure and human resources, the paper added. The bank is also mulling a pull-out from riskier trading businesses that have fallen out of favour with regulators and investors.

Seperately, Reuters is reporting that Morgan Stanley is to give up around 25% of its office space in Canary Wharf, by exercising a break option in its lease at 20 Cabot Square.