The Independent reports that Barclays Capital is cutting around 100 staff. According to the newspaper, the firm held meetings with every member of its UK leverage finance unit last week to advise them what the future looked like. 20 of the 90-person unit are thought to have been axed. 80 staff in IT are also understood to have been told that they are now surplus to requirements.

Until now, Barclays Capital is thought to have been letting staff go in small numbers. According to HereIsTheCity figures, around 320 of the firm's 16,500 employees have been let go since the credit crunch began last August.

Reuters quotes Fox-Pitt Kelton analyst David Trone, who is predicting that we may see a 'historic' consolidation of US investment banks and their commercial banking rivals next year. And the reason is simple. Investment banks have been given emergency access to the US Federal Reserve's discount window to ease any short-term liquidity problems / perceived problems.

If the arrangement becomes permanent, the Fed will no doubt impose harsh capital requirements which will affect the ability of firms to reap acceptable returns, and thus drive them into the arms of commercial banks with big balance sheets. Trone said: Of course, it is not a foregone conclusion that the Fed window access will be permanent. But if it does, we believe the days of independent US investment banks will soon be over'.

The International Herald Tribune reports that UBS is considering revealing the names of up to 20,000 clients to US authorities investigating alleged tax evasion charges.

The Financial Times reports that, according to a survey of assets under management undertaken by Hedge Fund Week, the industry's assets actually rose 20% last year to $2,900bn.

Finally, Bloomberg reports that, according to the Bank for International Settlements, governments and companies issued $360bn in bonds in the first-quarter, down 26% on the same period last year.

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