Madelein Smit, Managing Director at HR Company solutions

Nearly 30,000 investment-banking jobs are on the chopping board this year as the global banking industry looks set for a gloomy second half of 2019. The Financial Times reported that most of the cuts have been in European banks, with Deutsche Bank making up a large portion of the layoffs after last month's overhaul. But American banks such as Citigroup are also struggling as falling interest rates, along with increased use of automation and AI, have hit investment banking jobs. Deutsche Bank announced 18,000 job cuts as part of a major overhaul of its business earlier this year. The German bank also posted its biggest loss since 2008 in its latest earnings report, signalling the toll of the changes.