AI Shines in Wall Street Earnings — But Employees Pay the Price: JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs Hire Less

TradingKey - Amid ongoing macroeconomic uncertainty and the surging AI boom, capital markets saw another record-breaking quarter — driven by heightened trading activity at major financial firms. However, as AI technology demonstrates stronger real-world applications and efficiency gains, JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, and other Wall Street institutions are increasingly replacing human workers with artificial intelligence.

The Big Six banks — JPMorgan, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Citi, Morgan Stanley, and Goldman Sachs — generated $15.4 billion in equities trading revenue in Q3 2025, the highest third-quarter total in at least five years, up 24% from $12.4 billion in Q3 2024.

Beyond the volatility fueled by Trump’s shifting tariff policies, which sparked intense long-short battles, the AI investment frenzy has also driven massive flows into stocks like Nvidia, Oracle, and Broadcom — boosting Wall Street’s trading desks.

But while AI is delivering record profits, it’s also triggering a quiet revolution in staffing: humans are being replaced by machines.

JPMorgan: Profits Up 12%, Hiring Frozen

JPMorgan reported a 12% year-over-year increase in net income for Q3 — but employee growth was just 1%.

CFO Jeremy Barnum revealed that the bank has instructed managers to avoid hiring new staff, as AI is now being deployed across multiple business lines.

As of September, JPMorgan employed 318,000 people globally. Barnum said they have a very strong bias against having the reflexive response to any given need to be to hire more people.

In May, a senior executive projected that over the next five years, the bank could reduce its operations and support workforce by at least 10%, even as business volume grows — thanks to AI automation.

Goldman Sachs: Limited Hiring, Strategic Cuts

Goldman Sachs, with 48,300 employees worldwide, is following a similar path.

During its Q3 earnings call, CEO David Solomon announced the firm would limit headcount growth this year and conduct limited layoffs.

Solomon emphasized:

“To fully benefit from the promise of AI, we need greater speed and agility in all facets of our operations.”