Lehman Hit by Churn in Emerging Markets Staff

Lehman Brothers Chief Executive Richard Fuld has voiced his concerns over the high turnover of employees in the bank's emerging markets operations.

"We lose 20 percent to 30 percent of our people on a constant basis in emerging markets", Fuld said at a discussion panel at the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum.

"There's too much of 'I'm a contract player, I'm a mercenary and I go to the highest bidder'".

A market source has confirmed this as a general trend among emerging market sectors in banks, because of rapid growth and the youth of the sector, and people "wanting to earn as much money as possible".

Lehman Brothers has tried to counteract the high turnover by giving shares to all its employees in India, which "seems to be working a little better," according to Fuld.

"I want them to feel the culture, to feel the glue and to feel they're part of a team, and that's actually made a great difference."

"Economic growth in emerging markets is outpacing the availability of managerial staff," said Paul Reilly, chief executive of Korn/Ferry International, also at the discussion quoted by Bloomberg.

"In China, you have found the big rise in salaries over the last five years and you are just starting to see that in the executive ranks of India," Reilly said yesterday at the conference in Davos, Switzerland.