San Francisco, May 2 (IANS): Top global brokerage firm Morgan Stanley is reportedly gearing up to lay off nearly 3,000 jobs in its second round of job cuts amid a continuing global meltdown.

According to a Bloomberg report, citing sources, senior managers are discussing plans to eliminate about 3,000 jobs or roughly 5 per cent of its global workforce by the end of this quarter.

The job cuts will impact financial advisers and personnel supporting them within the wealth management division at Morgan Stanley, the report added.

Morgan Stanley, which employs about 82,000 people, did not comment on the report.

In the first quarter, Morgan Stanley's profit fell from a year earlier. The firm saw 32 per cent decline in its merger advisory and 22 per cent slump in its equity-underwriting business, according to the report.

In December 2022, the global investment advisory firm cut about 2 per cent of its global workforce, or about 1,600 employees.

The layoffs came after Morgan Stanley CEO James Gordon recently warned that "some people are going to be let go."

Morgan Stanley followed rival Goldman Sachs and other investment firms including Citigroup and Barclays in reducing their workforce.

Goldman Sachs eliminated about 3,200 jobs in January in one of its biggest cuts ever.

Morgan Stanley has seen headcount swell in recent years. The bank's employee strength went up by 34 per cent from the first quarter of 2020 to the third quarter of 2022.