Bear Stearns Cos Inc will cut about 240 subprime lending jobs as a global credit squeeze and a subprime lending crisis rattles markets, Reuters reports.
The New York investment bank employs about 15,100 people worldwide and said the cuts would not affect Wall Street jobs.
About 100 jobs are being cut at Encore Credit, a subprime lender Bear Stearns acquired in the past year for about $26 million, the company said. About 140 more jobs will be cut at Bear Stearns Residential, which funds risky subprime mortgages and Alt-A loans for borrowers with decent credit, the company said.
The crisis in the subprime lending industry recently buckled two hedge funds at Bear Stearns and led to the recent ouster of co-president Warren Spector. Several dozen U.S. subprime lenders have either shut down, curtailed their operations or cut jobs.