HSBC hacks, Credit Suisse sacks, and HK doesn't quite avoid the axe
It has not been a good week for employees of international banks. As disappointing results trickle out of the US and Europe, firms are again turning to mass sackings to tackle rising costs.
Layoffs are likely in Asia and hiring here has already slowed down compared with last year, but the job losses shouldn't be on the same scale as in the West.
The latest twist in the global redundancy rumour mill is that HSBC may cut more than 10,000 job to help fulfil the cost-cutting objectives it made in May.
Earlier this week disappointing earnings and an announcement of "significant restructuring" at UBS's investment bank led to speculation that 5,000 jobs would go.
Perhaps most worrying from an Asian perspective is Credit Suisse, which has also suffered poor investment banking results, but has actually confirmed 2,000 cuts - 1,500 of which will be outside of Switzerland.
And in Asia...
Although we don't know how many of these Credit Suisse cuts will be in Asia, and wealth management remains a comparatively safe haven, the firm's bottom-performing i-bankers in Singapore and Hong Kong will be under extra scrutiny.
"Asia is not immune. There will be some redundancies this year, but numbers wise, it won't be to the same extent as in the US and Europe where headcounts are just that much bigger and markets aren't doing as well," says a headhunter, who asked not to be named.
Hiring in Hong Kong and Singapore has suffered too, with several recruiters citing ANZ and UBS as banks which have frozen recruitment in some departments. "These type of freezes weren't on the cards in 2010. Most of their hiring has already taken place for this year anyway and banks are now even more cautious, given their bad results," adds the headhunter.
Long term, however, Asia remains a recruitment priority for international banks, including those caught up in the latest round of global redundancies. HSBC said in May that it plans to add 2,000 employees in China and Singapore over the next five years, according to Bloomberg.
And Goldman Sachs, which also recently released poor Q2 earnings, has expanded its Singapore office floor "with enough space for 400 staff".
