Foreign banks in Singapore may be reluctant to disclose numbers but industry observers note that jobs are being cut at these lenders.
Mr Gary Lai, managing director of recruitment consultancy Charterhouse, said most of the banks that had reduced staffing here had done so to consolidate operations in countries like the Philippines or India.
"So while you may have one person that they let go here, they might be hiring one more in a lower-cost country," he said.
Foreign banks and financial institutions like Credit Suisse, Macquarie Group, Bank of America Nomura Holdings and Daiwa Securities are some of those that have retrenched staff in Asia recently.
Reuters also reported last week that South Africa's Standard Bank had cut three jobs at its oil trading desk in Singapore.
Still, Mr Lai said that the job losses in Singapore were not significant compared to 2008 and 2009, when markets were hit by the collapse of Lehman Brothers.
Still, with no quick solution to the euro zone debt crisis, banks are likely to scale back operations - and job cuts are likely to be in the investment banking sector.
Mr Lai pointed out that companies like Daiwa have big trading arms as "they've been trying to beef up their investment portfolio".
The job outlook at Singapore banks appears to be more secure.
Mr Leng Seng Choon, co-head of research at DMG, said the bulk of the earnings for local banks came from interest income.
"For that reason, I think the (Singapore) banks will continue to keep the headcount at a level that is suitable for their operations," he said.
Source: Today – 9 November 2011
