Western Asset cuts 10 percent of workforce

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Money manager Legg Mason's (LM.N) Western Asset Management, one of the world's biggest fixed income managers, will cut 10 percent of its staff as it faces shrinking assets, the company said on Tuesday.

"Given the current market environment and recent efficiencies achieved by consolidating operating systems, Western Asset has made the difficult decision to right-size its staff," company spokeswoman Mary Athridge said. The company will eliminate 100 jobs.

Pasadena, California-based Western Asset manages $513 billion (352 billion pounds) in assets, the bulk of the $698 billion that Legg Mason oversees.

In the last quarter of 2008, investors pulled $42 billion out of Western's bond funds.

Western is the latest money manager to announce job cuts as the mutual fund industry faces shrinking assets due to market losses and redemptions. Legg Mason, Western's parent, and rivals Fidelity Investments and BlackRock have also announced layoffs.

(Reporting by Svea Herbst-Bayliss)