Australian infrastructure investor Babcock & Brown has set a new record for staff cuts at a bank that hasn't gone bankrupt. It announced this morning that it plans to cut headcount by almost two thirds between now and 2010. After the recent collapse of Australian infrastructure company Allco Finance Group, the Babcock earthquake is liable to cause a few tremors over at Macquarie, which leads the Australian infrastructure herd. Earlier this week, Macquarie (AKA the millionaires’ factory) revealed a 43% reduction in first half profits. For the moment, however, Macquarie itself appears to be hiring – staff numbers were up by 791 in the first half of this financial year and it has jobs in London. Pay per head for the first six months of this year was, however, down at AU$79k (£33k), compared to AU$117k for the same period of 2007. Millionaires are likely to be few and far between.

KKR hires for infrastructure in Europe. (The Times).

Putnam cuts 47 staff from its equities team. (Financial News).

Collins Stewart sets about cutting ‘less than half’ of its capital markets team. (Financial News).

Evolution hires in fixed income, promises two more hires to come. (Financial News).

25,000 new jobs at State Bank of India. (Bloomberg).

Standard Chartered isn’t hiring in Hong Kong after all. (Bloomberg).

Commodities traders kick up a stink about bonuses. (Wall Street Journal).

Bonus rights for Wall Street bankers. (Wall Street Journal).

Lehman restructurer wants bonus as well as hourly rate. (Bloomberg).

“Banking profitability will not be the same again for a long while. We do not subscribe to the view that the government will be a passive investor.” (Guardian).