I have a few data points - I worked in the banking industry for many years and saw this sort of behaviour all the time. People, including entire teams were fired, not because the banks were losing money and had to cut jobs to survive, but simply because they wanted to increase profitability.

If you want citations - there are vast masses out there - here is just one:

http://www.wsj.com/articles/hsbc-unveils-overhaul-of-global-...