Singapore Jobs Market
12-05-2006, 06:33 PM
Lee Ching Wern
chingwern@newstoday.com.sg
THE Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ (BOTM UFJ) yesterday retrenched about 30 employees in Singapore as part of a staff rationalisation exercise. This follows a merger of Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi and its rival UFJ on Jan 1. BOTM UFJ is part of the Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group — the world's largest banking group in terms of assets.
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Mr Masaki Yamashita, BOTM UFJ's head of planning, told Today that the retrenchment was a "rationalisation of the staffing requirement arising from the merger". It has "less than 600" employees here.
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Yesterday's retrenchments affected staff from all levels and departments, said Mr Yamashita. Insider sources told Today that many of those affected were senior employees from UFJ Bank and they were mostly locals. But Mr Yamashita responded that these were rumours.
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Affected workers were informed yesterday morning and given a compensation package of one month's last drawn salary for each year of service, capped at 25 years, as well as other benefits — a package "in line with market practice", said Mr Yamashita.
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The round of lay-offs did not come as a surprise to the employees, as "the management has been very transparent", said Mr Yamashita. According to employees that Today interviewed, the retrenchments have been widely expected due to the duplication in responsibilities since the merger at the beginning of the year.
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There are no plans for further cuts at the moment, said Mr Yamashita, although it would be hard for the bank to predict what might happen in future. The Singapore Bank Employees Union is negotiating with BOTM-UFJ on the retrenchment package and how it can help the affected employees.
http://www.todayonline.com/articles/118055.asp
chingwern@newstoday.com.sg
THE Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ (BOTM UFJ) yesterday retrenched about 30 employees in Singapore as part of a staff rationalisation exercise. This follows a merger of Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi and its rival UFJ on Jan 1. BOTM UFJ is part of the Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group — the world's largest banking group in terms of assets.
.
Mr Masaki Yamashita, BOTM UFJ's head of planning, told Today that the retrenchment was a "rationalisation of the staffing requirement arising from the merger". It has "less than 600" employees here.
.
Yesterday's retrenchments affected staff from all levels and departments, said Mr Yamashita. Insider sources told Today that many of those affected were senior employees from UFJ Bank and they were mostly locals. But Mr Yamashita responded that these were rumours.
.
Affected workers were informed yesterday morning and given a compensation package of one month's last drawn salary for each year of service, capped at 25 years, as well as other benefits — a package "in line with market practice", said Mr Yamashita.
.
The round of lay-offs did not come as a surprise to the employees, as "the management has been very transparent", said Mr Yamashita. According to employees that Today interviewed, the retrenchments have been widely expected due to the duplication in responsibilities since the merger at the beginning of the year.
.
There are no plans for further cuts at the moment, said Mr Yamashita, although it would be hard for the bank to predict what might happen in future. The Singapore Bank Employees Union is negotiating with BOTM-UFJ on the retrenchment package and how it can help the affected employees.
http://www.todayonline.com/articles/118055.asp