Goldman cuts 10 percent of bankers in Tokyo

TOKYO (Reuters) - Goldman Sachs Group (GS.N) has cut about 10 percent of its investment bankers in Tokyo, including one of Japan's top women bankers, as part of global efforts to cut its workforce, people familiar with the matter said.

Goldman has laid off more than 10 bankers from its mergers and capital markets teams, including Naomi Matsuoka who led Goldman's equity capital markets team, four people told Reuters.

Matsuoka is known for her role in sales of shares by the Japanese government, including stakes in Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp (9432.T) between 1998 and 2000 and East Japan Railway Co (9020.T) in 2002.

Goldman handled many of Japan's big privatisation deals, helping to boost its ranking on banking league tables.

Goldman ranks this year as No.4 investment bank in handling Japanese share sales, up from 12th position at the same time last year, data compiled by Thomson Reuters showed.

Matsuoka is one of the four managing directors who have left the bank in the latest move, the people said.

A spokeswoman for Goldman Sachs in Tokyo declined to comment.

(Reporting by Taro Fuse and Junko Fujita; Editing by Rodney Joyce)