Morgan Stanley is cutting about 1,500 jobs globally, including several executive positions, as part of a year-end efficiency push.

The cuts are skewed toward technology and operations divisions, but also include executives in sales, trading and research operations, people with knowledge of the matter said. The reductions amount to about two percent of the firm’s workforce. The bank plans to take a charge in the range of $150 million to $200 million in its fourth-quarter results tied to the cost of the cuts, one person said.

Investment banks around the world have been trimming staff amid a multiyear slump in trading revenue and the expectation that more of the business will move to electronic platforms that require fewer humans. Citigroup Inc. and Deutsche Bank AG are among firms that have cut hundreds of trading jobs this year.

Recession fears have eased in recent weeks on signs that much of the US economy is proving resilient to the US-China trade war. Although America's manufacturing industry is in a downturn, the rest of the economy continues to grow.

The United States added 266,000 jobs in November, blowing away estimates from economists. The unemployment rate dipped to 3.5 percent, matching a 50-year low.

Still, the financial services industry is bracing for significant disruption caused by the rise of new technologies such as artificial intelligence and automation.

For instance, by 2030, about 1.3 million bank workers in the United States and 500,000 in the United Kingdom could be affected by the introduction of AI, according to IHS Markit.