Layoffs worldwide

Layoffs worldwide
Layoffs worldwide

01/14/2009, 22:02     [TODAY (Singapore)]    


BARCLAYS

Following last weeks announcement that British bank Barclays would be cutting 10 jobs in Singapore, the company says it will be laying off 2,100 workers worldwide  about 7 per cent of the entire staff. The cuts will be in the investment, fund management and private banking divisions.

The Centre for Economics and Business Research in London said 28,000 financial services jobs were lost in Britain last year. It expects another 34,000 to go this year. AP

ING

Troubled Dutch bank and insurance group ING will cut 750 jobs from its US operations in the first quarter of the year. Like many companies in the US, we have to adapt our activities to market conditions, an ING spokesman said. ING currently has some 11,000 employees in the US. AFP

MERRILL LYNCH

Merrill Lynch, the US investment bank, plans to lop off as much as 30 per cent of its workforce in Hong Kong, the Economic Times reported.

The bank has 1,500 workers in Hong Kong, the newspaper said. The reduction will mainly come from the investment banking department. BLOOMBERG

PFIZER

Pfizer Inc, the worlds biggest drugmaker, is to fire 800 researchers, or 8 per cent of its science staff, to focus on developing treatments for cancer, brain disorders and diabetes.

The company was due to begin notifying the workers yesterday, a spokesperson said. She would not specify which research fields or what laboratories around the world will be affected. Pfizer has more than 300 staff in Singapore.

ORACLE

Oracle Corp, the software company, has eliminated about 500 jobs in its North American sales and consulting businesses, the Wall Street Journal reported. The California-based company had 33,526 employees in the Americas at the end of November and 86,657 worldwide.