Wachovia cutting fixed-income and support jobs

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wachovia Corp WB.N Chief Executive Ken Thompson told investors on Monday his hard-hit U.S. regional bank was cutting back corporate and investment bank jobs to reduce costs.

The Charlotte, North Carolina, bank reaffirmed plans to cut up to 500 jobs in global markets and investment banking, or 13 percent of a group that has nearly 4,000 employees.

Thompson, speaking at a UBS investor conference, said the bank has been rationalizing headcount, including a third of fixed-income employees and 10 percent of support staff. The cuts reflect tougher conditions and the slowdown in financial markets.

Wachovia spokeswoman Elise Wilkinson said the reductions cited by Thompson span from the beginning of 2007 through to the end of next month. No further job cuts have been announced since April 16, she said.

Wachovia, which has marked down mortgage and other debt assets by $5 billion so far in the credit crunch, is "exiting non-client-driven businesses," Thompson said.

The comments echoed moves made by other firms, where mortgage and debt trading businesses generated the bulk of losses yet were not part of long-standing customer relationships.

"Many structured product businesses are gone. Any business with leverage on top of leverage will not be part of our model going forward," he said.

Last month, Wachovia Chief Financial Officer Tom Wurtz said headcount in markets and investment banking had been reduced by 14 percent this year and would be cut an additional 12 percent during the second quarter. Combined, these moves eliminate one of four trading and banking unit jobs, Wurtz said.

(Reporting by Joseph A. Giannone, editing by Tim Dobbyn)