The Mail-on-Sunday reported over the weekend that Goldman Sachs was readying for a major cull of the workforce. Up to 3,200 staff are said likely to be axed. Well, it looks like the lays-offs have actually already begun.

Reuters now reports that the Wall Street firm laid off 'hundreds' in M&A last week, as deal volumes have fallen around 25% on last year. One unnamed insider told Reuters that Goldman has now cut 25% of VPs in M&A. Firm spokesman Michael DuVally wheeled out the standard Goldman job loss comment: 'Given market conditions, we have been looking at a number of areas of the firm where we believe we have too many people. We have transferred some to other areas and to other regions, but unfortunately, some people have been asked to leave the firm'.

Goldman is thought to have already laid off around 2,200 staff since the credit crunch started to bite in August. It probably needs to axe an additional 1,000 employees to bring its headcount reduction more generally in line with its main rivals.

In the meantime, The Financial Times reports that Goldman is close to completing its plan to restructure the $7bn SIV previously run by London-based hedge fund Cheyne Capital. The deal has taken months to broker, given how difficult it has been to place a value on the assets. The model is expected to be used to restructure other failed SIVs, including Standard Chartered's Whistlejacket and IBK's Rhinebridge.

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