On Wall Street and in the City, bankers and brokers are learning that sometimes the smallest cuts hurt the most.

Merrill Lynch bankers have to work a half hour longer before they can catch a company-paid taxi home.

UBS analysts are flying economy class for short-haul flights.

And, at Goldman Sachs, UK traders deemed to be at fault for lost or damaged Blackberries have to contribute out of pocket towards their new machines. In the US, floor-traders have lost their free sodas and bottled water.

On the surface, none of these steps will do much to plug the billions of dollars and pounds in losses and lost revenue stemming from the credit crunch and they certainly pale in comparison to the 55,000 redundancies that have already been announced by the bulge-bracket firms.

But nit-picky memos about cost-cutting send a message that employers are doing what they can to save money and minimise lay-offs, management experts said.

“What it does is set a tone. These are very bright people. If you set a tone from up on high, they are very good at managing themselves, checking expenses,” said Michael Rendell, head of global human resources consulting for PwC.

Veterans of earlier downturns say the cost-cutting this time has been relatively restrained.

That is partly because the really lavish perks of the dotcom boom – concierges, masseuses and elaborate break rooms – vanished in the early 2000s and have never really returned. But most brokers and banks so far have not had to resort to desperate measures. So far, fruit bowls and coffee machines have not disappeared, and there have been no reported sightings of the discount toilet paper that appeared in some bank bathrooms last time.

This time around, the focus so far has been on taxis, canteen hours, and not blowing the budget on unnecessarily lavish travel.

At stockbroker Panmure Gordon, for example, staff are taking public transport rather than taxis to meetings around London and senior managers have switched from British Airways business class to Silverjet, the budget premium airline, for trips to New York. “Q1 has been tough for all the brokers and were all tightening our belts,” a spokesman said.

Deutsche Bank has banned staff from putting hotel television porn channels on their company credit card. According to a memo leaked to German news magazine Der Spiegel, the new ban is part of a crackdown that also limits lunches to £50 ($98) a person and requires prior approval for taxis during transport strikes. “Deutsche Bank does not approve of any adult entertainments and such expenditures will not be reimbursed,” the memo said. Citigroup has announced plans to slash costs by 20 per cent, but its early efforts have focused on big-ticket items, such as selling business lines and cutting headcounts. That may change. The investment banking side recently brought on board Mark Rufeh, a new chief administrative officer, who is well known as a cost-cutter from his time at Credit Suisse. Under his watch, the Swiss bank imposed such strict limits on hotel bills that employees travelling to London sometimes had to seek special waivers because no rooms were available at the approved rates.
Nor is it just the banks who are having to pare back. Law firm Herbert Smith announced last week that it will hold associate salary levels flat in the next financial year, and a number of other firms are expected to follow suit.

So far, investment managers and hedge funds say they have not been doing much in the way of official paring back.

“Cost control is always an issue,” said Mark Powell, chairman of Rathbone Brothers. “But we dont have many perks so we cant cut them out.”

Edward Bonham Carter, chief executive of Jupiter said: “As we did not expand aggressively during the bull market, we do not need to embark on a cost-cutting programme.”

“We would not, however, be complacent and are always focused on keeping our costs down – hence I continue to ride my bike into work.” Nor is he the only one. Quite a few Jupiter fund managers – especially those that run ethical funds – cycle to work. It saves the company money on cars and cuts air pollution too.

在华尔街和伦敦金融城，银行家和经纪人正认识到，有时候最小的裁减带来的伤害却最深。

美林(Merrill Lynch)银行家必须多工作半小时，才能坐公司报销的出租车回家。

瑞银(UBS)分析师的短线航程须乘坐经济舱。

在高盛(Goldman Sachs)英国，那些被认定在丢失或损坏黑莓(Blackberry)方面负有责任的交易员，必须自己掏钱购买新黑莓。在美国，场内交易员已喝不到免费的苏打水和瓶装水了。

表面看来，上述举措都不会对弥补信贷危机带来的巨额损失以及失去的收入有很大帮助，相对于华尔街投行已宣布的裁员5.5万人相比，这些肯定不值一提。

但管理专家表示，这些刻薄的有关削减成本的备忘录传递了一个信息，即雇主正全力节约资金，并将裁员数量降至最低水平。

普华永道(PwC)全球人力资源咨询部门主管迈克尔•兰德尔(Michael Rendell)表示：“它所做的是定下基调。他们都是非常聪明的人。如果高层确立基调，他们会非常好的管理自己、检查自己的支出。”

此前经历过经济低迷的人士表示，此次成本削减相对有限。

部分原因是互联网热潮期间真正慷慨的额外补贴——门卫、女按摩师和装修精致的休息室——在本世纪初已经消失，实际上从未再出现过。不过，多数经纪商和银行迄今尚未出绝招。迄今为止，水果盘和咖啡机还没有消失，人们还没有看到上一次出现在一些银行洗手间的打折卫生纸。

这一次，银行的注意力目前只关注在出租车费、用餐时间以及在不必要的奢华差旅费方面不超出预算。

例如，在股票经纪公司Panmure Gordon，员工在参加伦敦周边的会议时会使用公共交通工具，而不是出租车，高管出差到纽约，也从英国航空(British Airways)的商务舱改用廉价豪华航空公司Silverjet。一位发言人表示：“对于所有经纪商而言，第一季度都相当困难，我们都勒紧了裤腰带。”

德意志银行(Deutsche Bank)已禁止员工使用公司信用卡支付酒店色情电视频道的费用。根据一份泄露给德国新闻杂志《明镜》(Der Spiegel)的备忘录，这项新禁令是公司成本削减计划的一部分，计划还包括将午餐费用限制在每人50英镑（合98美元）以内，并且在交通运输部门罢工期间叫出租车需要提前获得批准。该备忘录称：“德意志银行不会批准任何成人娱乐，这类费用不会报销。”花旗集团(Citigroup)已宣布，计划削减成本20%，但其最初的努力关注于费用高昂的项目，例如出售业务部门和裁员。这种状况可能会发生变化。花旗投行部门最近聘请马克•鲁菲(Mark Rufeh)担任新的首席行政官，鲁菲在瑞士信贷(Credit Suisse)任职时就以成本削减闻名。在他的监督下，这家瑞士银行对酒店账单加以严格限制，有时出差到伦敦的员工不得不寻求特殊豁免，原因是找不到规定价格的酒店房间。

不得不削减成本的不只是银行。律师事务所Herbert Smith上周宣布，未来财年，律师的薪资水平将保持不变，而许多其它事务所预计也会仿效这一做法。

迄今为止，投资管理公司和对冲基金表示，它们还没有在正式削减成本方面采取很多举措。

“成本控制一直是个问题，”Rathbone Brothers董事长马克•鲍威尔(Mark Powell)表示。“但我们没有很多额外补贴，因此我们没有可以削减的。”

Jupiter首席执行官爱德华•勃哈姆•卡特(Edward Bonham Carter)表示：“在牛市期间，我们没有大肆扩张，因此我们不需要启动成本削减计划。”

“然而，我们不会因此感到自满，我们一直关注于降低成本，因此我会继续骑自行车上班。”他并非唯一这样做的人，在Jupiter，很多基金经理——特别是那些管理道德基金的经理——都是骑车上班。这不仅节约了公司的汽车费用，同时也减少了空气污染。