CIMB is reported to have retrenched 12 employees from its broking department in Singapore.

The laid-off employees are primarily from the back-office support functions and around half of the staff were employed on a contract basis. No employees were retrenched from the banking business.

As per a bank spokesman:

“Similar to our industry peers, we are not spared from the harsh realities of the deteriorating capital markets.

We need to adjust to the realities of today’s market conditions and we are continually looking at ways to reduce costs through streamlining of our broking operations. The decision to reduce headcount even though the number is small is never easy but necessary to ensure we remain nimble and robust to weather the continued headwinds.”

This round of lay-offs is the latest in a series of such activity at CIMB.

• Around 3,000 staff left the bank under a voluntary retirement scheme recently.
• In January 2016, CIMB retrenched approximately 30 employees in its investment banking and cash equities divisions in Hong Kong.
• In March this year, the bank was reported to be in discussions for selling part of its brokerage business to a Chinese firm.

Redundancies have been increasing overall in Singapore this year, especially for PMETs (Professionals, managers, executives and technicians).