Barclays announced plans in May to trim 7,000 investment banking jobs globally by 2016 and reports suggest that 100 of these roles have been cut in Asia this week. The bank has also suffered several high-profile front-office departures in the region, including Jason Rynbeck, vice chairman of M&A for Asia Pacific, who left to join HSBC.
While much attention has focused on the front-office, within the past week back-office roles in Singapore – where Barclays currently employs about 3,000 people, its largest workforce in Asia – have also been cut.
“Most of the new layoffs in Singapore have actually been IT and operations focused, with some roles being offshored to India,” says a recruiter with knowledge of the bank, speaking on condition of anonymity. “Finance people were lucky this time round but I suspect there will be more cuts coming in the next few months and finance may be next on the list.” Full story
