Around the World: UBS Lays Off Workers Everywhere – Except Middle East

UBS layoffs show up the sorry plight of researchers in Asia

More job cuts in Asia Pacific this week: UBS is trimming 35 people across the region, and four IT staff in Singapore and Hong Kong will be axed. But it’s the decision to retrench at least four research analysts in Hong Kong, including some who cover China-related stocks, that seems to form part of a disturbing industry-wide trend. [Hong Kong]

This is what you can earn as a quant in London, New York, Paris, Singapore or Hong Kong

We have some figures for quant salaries from recruitment firm Selby Jennings. They hark back from November, but we are assured they remain correct. They are presented below, without comment. [UK]

More mainland M&A deals mean more M&A jobs at Moelis and other boutiques

M&A in China continues to grow, despite challenging global economic conditions. Overall mergers activity in the mainland went up by 5 percent in 2011 to 5,364 deals, the highest annual total ever, according to a recent report from PricewaterhouseCoopers. Chinese state-owned enterprises and private companies are all joining in this trend. They need experienced and specialized help, such as good advisory firms that are independent from the deal and can advise on the technical issues. [Singapore]

Lessons for keeping your job: You do NOT want to be working for a bank’s hobby business

Piyush Gupta, chief executive officer of Singaporean bank DBS coined the phrase. Thanks to a lot of ill-thought out expansion under his predecessors, DBS had ended up with a lot of “hobby businesses,” he explained when the bank announced its results this week. At DBS, these were especially in the UK, the U.S. and the Middle East. Under Gupta, the bank has retrenched and is focusing on Asia. [Scotland]

Technologists have no intention of hanging around for terrible bonuses

Most people in investment banking are expecting bonuses to be poor this year, but technology professionals are anticipating either a derisory figure or a donut, and are not sticking around to find out. [UK]

The Middle East is the only region where headcount has INCREASED at UBS

In the Middle East and Africa, where it admittedly employs a comparatively small number of people, headcount continues to increase. Now, 162 people are employed by UBS in the region, up from 157 at the end of September and an increase of 18 percent since the end of 2010. In every other region, including Switzerland and the Asia Pacific, headcount at UBS declined during the fourth quarter. [Middle East]