When Jon Corzine ran Goldman Sachs, he never experienced the type of bloodbath that he now will execute at MF Global Holdings, the commodities and derivatives brokerage giant.  On Wednesday, the firm announced it would cut more than 30% of equity sales, trading and research jobs in Europe and Asia.  The firm employs about 2,800 worldwide.  It's a sign that, at this point, few financial firms are safe from downsizing.

The payroll slashing is part of a push by its CEO Jon S. Corzine, former Goldman Sachs CEO and former United States Senator and New Jersey Governor, to realign MF Global as a commodities-focused investment bank.  The firm said it would also seek to build its commodities and global policy research presence.

“MF Global has a long history of leadership and expertise in derivatives and commodities as well as strong global policy perspective that we gained through the acquisition of Washington Research Group in 2010,” said Peter Forlenza, global head of equities for the firm. “We are leveraging these core competencies to better focus our offering on a differentiated, insightful equities sales and research platform for our clients.”

It just adds to the already-large tally of firings in the finance industry, which has been felt most in the financial centers of New York and London. Bank of America and HSBC have announced plans to shrink their work forces by 10% each, representing tens of thousands of jobs. Barclays, Credit Suisse, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs have all also announced significant job cuts. [Dealbook, 9/14/11]