[ by Melanie Gretchen and Howard Haykin ] The investment banking world is shrinking, according to Financial News, plagued with increasing costs and declining revenues.  Over the past 12 months, there's been a 5.6% reduction in the number of jobs at 8 major investment banks, including:  UBS, Credit Suisse, JPMorgan, Unicredit, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley. The Numbers. Over the past year, that 5.6% drop in headcount at global investment bank reduced neared 10,000 jobs - from 176,500 jobs at 6/30/11 to 166,600 jobs at 6/30/12.  The job losses were pretty evenly split between 2011 and 2012.

[C-I Note: It's obvious the industry has endured a prolonged down economic cycle, but it would be nice to have some idea as to when the cycle might end.  Until then, ...]

For further details, go to [WSJ, 8/23/12].