"weather proof" occupation
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Axe falls in last 2 days on those in the equity, fixed income and energy units
By Gabriel Chen
AT LEAST 20 Singapore employees of investment bank Merrill Lynch have been laid off in the past two days.
The layoffs were met with anger, tears and some confusion among the ranks of 700 or so employees at its Marina Bay offices.
About 10 members of the equity team were axed on Monday - that is about 25 per cent of the unit’s workforce. Sources say that around the same number from the fixed income desk and several from the energy trading team were told to leave yesterday.
A banker told The Straits Times that he was told to go on Monday after being asked to see human resources in the morning.
‘It still comes as a surprise to me, as I thought I would be asked to go only next month,’ he said.
He has also lost out on his Merrill stock. A contractual arrangement arising from Bank of America’s takeover of Merrill last month meant shares granted to him had to be ‘bought back’ by the bank.
But Merrill shares have plunged by over 70 per cent since their peak last year so he is taking home much less.
The average severance package across the board is about three weeks’ pay for each year of service, he said.
The banker said before he left yesterday: 'You’re seeing half-empty offices and morale is certainly not good.
‘A lady who went into the room after me came out with her eyes red, tears rolling down her face. Some of the senior folk didn’t even pack their belongings. They stormed out.’
One senior banker said to have been retrenched on Monday was Mr Mark Bowden, head of equities in Singapore.
He apparently came in as usual and was ‘ready to do the lunchtime presentation’, but never turned up.
‘Mark Bowden has already left the company,’ said the operator when The Straits Times called Merrill yesterday.
The lunch briefing was taken instead by Mr Yasuhiro Fujiwara, who heads the Pacific Rim equities desk.
‘He said that they’re done with job cuts for the year,’ said a banker who heard about the talk from his colleagues. ‘But can you really be sure about that?’
Merrill in Singapore declined to comment on the job cuts.
The axe has also fallen on Singaporeans based in Merrill’s Hong Kong office.
‘It has been a long day,’ said a 28-year-old Hong Kong-based fixed income banker who received her letter yesterday morning.
‘I’ll have to sort out my rent,’ she said, as she ponders how to manage the HK$15,000 (S$2,860) she pays every month for her high-end apartment.
‘Maybe I’ll move in with a friend. If I don’t find a job within the next two months, I think I’ll move back to Singapore.’
The Merrill layoffs have sent a chill around the Raffles Place banking zone, with executives discussing the bleak job climate and how global banks are whittling down staff and cutting operations.
At UBS Singapore, two employees from commodities have been asked to go, while the investment banking team has seen reductions, sources say.
‘The Asia-Pacific generally, and Singapore specifically, remain key and growing markets for UBS. Against this background, the headcount reductions are small. We also continue to hire selectively,’ UBS told The Straits Times yesterday. -
It’s sad how some firms treat people when reducing headcount. For banking though, it is a high risk high return thing. hopefully they have save for the rainy day when they are getting 6-15 months bonus…
But I think the other sectors will follow suit soon…Construction is already slowing down. -
Yes, unfortunately, ppl are taken as HC.
Eg. we were asked to do a budget cut in 2009. My VP is aligned with me that we will put headcount reduction as last resort and let’s look at the areas that we can cut. I feel that we should behave ethically.
In the end, we are still being made to do Head cuts despite the VP’s protests and assurance that we can achieve the $ savings that they are looking at. There is this obsession about headcount numbers in the corporate world that’s why they are turning to contractors that doesn’t appear on their heads.
Also, if you do not cut headcount, it appears that the cut is not DEEP enough. "You’ve not bled to death so it’s not serious yet."
Personally I feel that it’s very unfortunate and such actions are not being fair to the employees. Of course, no one would want to be on that list. Maybe I was being too "idealistic" also being a libran, I strive on "fairness" alot of time.
Frankly, when I heard abt the potential head cuts, I was concerned abt my job security too and had lots of questions within myself. It appears for now my job is untouchable as they are looking to strengthen the role rather than eliminate it. Such is corporate life. So unpredictable. -
mincy:
Not everyone gets so much. The local banks certeinly pay so much.It's sad how some firms treat people when reducing headcount. For banking though, it is a high risk high return thing. hopefully they have save for the rainy day when they are getting 6-15 months bonus...
But I think the other sectors will follow suit soon...Construction is already slowing down. -
Hi MMM, I know, things are so unpredictable. my co/dept went through a few rounds of "restructuring" / take over before and sometimes the HC cutting can be quite cruel and unfair. Sometimes, alot is base on perception, but that’s the corporate world. hianz.
kaitlynangelica, I suppose you are right. It’s espescially trying for those who have not rip the rewards but suffered the stress and long hours and finally get the pink slips. -
I think what is more worrying is that this is a widespread thing and affect not just banking but all other industry as well including those that are still doing well.
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Merck to cut 7,200 jobs
Drugmaker will eliminate more than 10% of its work force to cut costs. Weak sales and a restructuring charge also hurt third-quarter results.
Semicon industry has started retrenchment but not reported in the news. What got reported big big is 10K jobs needed for IR. -
Stanchart lays off senior staff
Wed, Oct 29, 2008
The Straits Times
THE axe continues to fall across corporate Singapore with Standard Chartered (Stanchart) sacking several staff members from the group’s consumer banking division last week.
Senior people in Hong Kong and Taiwan were affected by the bank’s ‘restructuring exercise’ but most of the 35 job cuts were made here. One to go was Singapore-based Sunil Thakar, the head of risk assurance for the group consumer bank. Stanchart has more than 5,300 people based in Singapore.
Hong Kong-based Helen Kan, global head of customer and frontline experience, and Hong Kong-based Arthur Chan, who reports to Ms Kan, have also been asked to go, sources say. Sources say the restructuring exercise - which gained traction about a month ago - includes areas such as wholesale banking, but is particularly ‘prevalent’ at the group consumer bank. -
SINGAPORE : In what is the first large-scale retrenchment here since the economy turned sour, IM Flash Technologies (IMFT) - a joint venture between chip giants Micron and Intel - has scrapped plans to build a wafer fabrication plant, laying off 800 employees in the process.
It became known on Thursday that the staff, 500 of whom are undergoing training in Utah, United States, were informed of the decision on October 13 in a meeting at the company’s Lehi facility. The remaining 300 - hired as production operators and who are mostly from India - have already left the company.
At press time, IMFT’s management, which is based in the US, could not be reached for comment. According to one affected Singaporean employee, the majority of the staff are non-Singaporeans. The employee told TODAY: "Prior to the meeting, everyone was already quite down. Because of the market conditions, some of us had suspicions (that there would be a massive layoff)." -
AIA staff laid off
By Lorna Tan, Financial Correspondent
The axings come just six weeks after AIA’s US parent AIG almost collapsed under the weight of massive liabilities. – ST PHOTO: SHAHRIYA YAHAYA
INSURER AIA Singapore laid off about 20 employees from two of its divisions on Thursday as part of its efforts to trim fat.
The affected employees included chief marketing officer Lance Tay, who oversaw the Life Profit Centre (LPC), and Mr Stanz Tan, the head of LPC and AIA’s vice-president.
Sources said that Thursday’s cuts are unlikely to be the last among the 800-strong workforce. It is believed that there will be more job losses, either through retrenchment, re-deployment, outsourcing or natural attrition. There are no plans to reduce its life agency strength.
The axings come just six weeks after AIA’s US parent AIG almost collapsed under the weight of massive liabilities.
It was bailed out by the US taxpayer to the tune of US$85 billion but the uncertainty affected operations here and sparked two days of panic with policyholders besieging the Singapore office demanding their money back.
The crisis raised the spectre of cost cutting among some staff here. One told The Straits Times on Friday: ‘There are so many changes here. But when you work in a corporate, these things do happen and we just have to move on.’
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