Singapore - As the credit crunch really begins to bite for banks and financial firms around the world, more layoffs are to be expected, starting with Citigroup's plans to cut 52,000 jobs worldwide.
Just yesterday, Citigroup's chief executive Vikram Pandit announced plans to reduce its total workforce from 352,000 employees to about 300,000 by early next year to survive the global crisis. The planned cuts are likely to affect its Singapore arm, which employs over 9,000 staff.
Other banks which have announced plans to axe their headcount in Asia in the coming weeks include DBS with 900 job cuts, Merrill Lynch with 75 layoffs and 100 job cuts from Goldman Sachs. HSBC has also announced the bank would be laying off 450 people from its Hong Kong operations, and 50 from the rest of Asia. The retrenchment figure represents 2% of its Hong Kong work force, and less than half a percent of its Asian operations.
Globally, UBS has slashed more than 7,000 jobs since the crisis with Royal Bank of Scotland and J.P. Morgan Chase rumoured to be planning 3,000 job cuts each.
