Bear Stearns, the Wall Street investment bank mauled by the sub-prime crisis, is cutting 650 jobs or four per cent of its global workforce as the investment bank seeks to reduce costs.

Around 20 job losses are expected to be in London, where the bank employs about 1,500.

These are on top of the 1,490 job cuts that have been announced by Bear Stearns, led by chief executive James Cayne, since mid-August.

The company had employed a total of 15,500 at the end of the third quarter.

“As we indicated at the end of October, we are continuing to rationalize our business, monitor staffing needs and align our infrastructure with current market conditions,” Bear Stearns said in a statement.

Bear Stearns said that it will make strategic hires in growth areas.

Earlier this month, the bank said that in the fourth quarter it would write down $1.2 billion of assets linked to mortgages. This summer it also had to rescue one its hedge funds by taking on $3.2 billion of its debt.

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