Finance professionals unhappy with bonuses, looking for new jobs
By Rachel Kelly | Posted: 22 March 2011 2146 hrs
SINGAPORE: Bank bonuses may be on the rise but so is the number of employees in Singapore's financial sector looking to move.
A recent survey by the global career site, eFinancial careers, reveals that while 53 per cent of financial sector employees in Singapore received higher annual bonuses, 55 per cent were less than satisfied with the increase.
As a result, more than three out of five finance professionals here, some 62 per cent, are looking for new positions in 2011.
And that may be a blow to an industry that is already experiencing significant talent shortages as companies look to expand. Big global players, such as UBS, are looking to scale up operations in Singapore.
"We continue to hire strategically in accordance with the growth needs of the business. In the medium term, we expect to grow the number of client advisors in Asia Pacific from 900 to 1,200, in line with business needs," said Ms Moira Roberts, Head of Human Resources, UBS Singapore.
Since the beginning of 2010, UBS has increased its wealth management headcount in Asia by about 400.
Credit Suisse, which has more than doubled its Singapore headcount in the last five years, now has more than 5,500 employees here. Singapore is the bank's fourth-largest office in the world and by 2013 it will have the capacity to employ over 6,000 workers here.
George McFerran, Head of Asia Pacific at eFinancial Careers, said: "I think as firms try to hold on to people then increasing salary costs are going to be an issue but bonuses are normally paid based on performance and people hitting targets, and that will be the main driver for bonus increases going forward."
Experts added that an increasing number of firms are spreading bonus payouts throughout the year as a retention tool as people who were reluctant to move during the financial crisis start to loosen ties.
Peter Haglund, country manager at Manpower Staffing Services, said: "We see is them actually waking up because last year we didn't really have the same struggles, there is still an increased competition for talent, but it wasn't as tough as it now.
"The good thing about the banking sector is that it is viewed from many candidates as a sector they want to go into...we think they are waking up and some already have put practices in place through career development, through individual development and training programs."
UBS, for example, said training and career development has been important to the bank's success. It has a UBS Business University in Singapore which has, to date, conducted programmes spanning more than 24,000 training days and 2,000 events.
-CNA/ac
- wong chee tat :)
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Eastman Kodak opens Asia-Pacific Solutions centre in Singapore
Eastman Kodak opens Asia-Pacific Solutions centre in Singapore
Posted: 22 March 2011 2137 hrs
SINGAPORE: Eastman Kodak announced Tuesday the opening of its Asia-Pacific Solutions centre in Singapore that will add more than 100 professionals to its R&D and business operations in Singapore over the next five years.
Kodak did not give the exact investment figure but it hinted that it will be less than S$100 million.
Used in inkjet printers, the technology known as MEMS - or microfluidics in micro-electromechanical systems - allows microscopic ink shoots that are undetectable to eye to be precisely printed on paper.
Eastman Kodak hopes to make the technology the focus of its R&D as it looks to expand its business operations here.
"The capabilities here are so good that it is now important for us as a company or for any company to embrace these capabilities and really utilize them as part of our toolkit if you will or business value proposition," said Mr Philip Faraci, president and CEO of Eastman Kodak.
- CNA/cc
- wong chee tat :)
Posted: 22 March 2011 2137 hrs
SINGAPORE: Eastman Kodak announced Tuesday the opening of its Asia-Pacific Solutions centre in Singapore that will add more than 100 professionals to its R&D and business operations in Singapore over the next five years.
Kodak did not give the exact investment figure but it hinted that it will be less than S$100 million.
Used in inkjet printers, the technology known as MEMS - or microfluidics in micro-electromechanical systems - allows microscopic ink shoots that are undetectable to eye to be precisely printed on paper.
Eastman Kodak hopes to make the technology the focus of its R&D as it looks to expand its business operations here.
"The capabilities here are so good that it is now important for us as a company or for any company to embrace these capabilities and really utilize them as part of our toolkit if you will or business value proposition," said Mr Philip Faraci, president and CEO of Eastman Kodak.
- CNA/cc
- wong chee tat :)
Caltex raises pump prices
Caltex raises pump prices
By Mustafa Shafawi | Posted: 21 March 2011 1742 hrs
SINGAPORE: Caltex has increased the prices of petrol and diesel. Petrol prices went up by 3 cents a litre for all grades and diesel rose five cents a litre.
The change took effect from 3pm on Monday.
With the increase, Caltex's Platinum 98 with Techron costs S$2.245 a litre.
A litre of 95-grade fuel costs S$2.101.
Diesel costs S$1.653 a litre.
A check online found that both Shell and SPC have not increased their prices. And a spokesperson for Esso confirmed the company has not raised prices.
Petrol prices are hovering near levels last seen in June 2008, when a litre of 98-grade petrol costs about S$2.30.
- CNA/ir
- wong chee tat :)
By Mustafa Shafawi | Posted: 21 March 2011 1742 hrs
SINGAPORE: Caltex has increased the prices of petrol and diesel. Petrol prices went up by 3 cents a litre for all grades and diesel rose five cents a litre.
The change took effect from 3pm on Monday.
With the increase, Caltex's Platinum 98 with Techron costs S$2.245 a litre.
A litre of 95-grade fuel costs S$2.101.
Diesel costs S$1.653 a litre.
A check online found that both Shell and SPC have not increased their prices. And a spokesperson for Esso confirmed the company has not raised prices.
Petrol prices are hovering near levels last seen in June 2008, when a litre of 98-grade petrol costs about S$2.30.
- CNA/ir
- wong chee tat :)
COEs fall in all except small cars category
COEs fall in all except small cars category
By Wayne Chan | Posted: 23 March 2011 1720 hrs
SINGAPORE: Premiums for Certificates of Entitlement (COEs) fell in all but the small cars category, or category A - which went up by S$1,213 to S$43,813.
The biggest fall was in the big cars category, or category B, where the premium fell by S$4,892 to S$57,002.
The open category COE fell S$2,937 to S$59,073.
COEs for commercial vehicles dropped S$311 to S$29,690.
Motorcycle COEs fell S$70 to S$2,534.
Mr Ron Lim, general manager of sales and marketing at Tan Chong Motor said the rise in category A is due to aggressive bidding by taxi companies wanting to expand their fleets.
"In fact, they have been coming in quite aggressively over the last six months to secure all these category A COE. For example in this round alone, they make up almost 20% of the bids that went in," said Mr Lim.
As for the falls across the other categories, Mr Lim said it was almost expected.
"Because of the crisis in Japan, it created quite a lot of volatility in the market, especially the stock market, so the category B cars are more affected than the rest," said Mr Lim.
Mr Lim said the concern would be supplies of cars from Japan.
However, he said that most distributors should have sufficient stock to cover them over the next two to three months, and there should not be any impact unless there are further delays in Japan's production recovery.
- CNA/cc
- wong chee tat :)
By Wayne Chan | Posted: 23 March 2011 1720 hrs
SINGAPORE: Premiums for Certificates of Entitlement (COEs) fell in all but the small cars category, or category A - which went up by S$1,213 to S$43,813.
The biggest fall was in the big cars category, or category B, where the premium fell by S$4,892 to S$57,002.
The open category COE fell S$2,937 to S$59,073.
COEs for commercial vehicles dropped S$311 to S$29,690.
Motorcycle COEs fell S$70 to S$2,534.
Mr Ron Lim, general manager of sales and marketing at Tan Chong Motor said the rise in category A is due to aggressive bidding by taxi companies wanting to expand their fleets.
"In fact, they have been coming in quite aggressively over the last six months to secure all these category A COE. For example in this round alone, they make up almost 20% of the bids that went in," said Mr Lim.
As for the falls across the other categories, Mr Lim said it was almost expected.
"Because of the crisis in Japan, it created quite a lot of volatility in the market, especially the stock market, so the category B cars are more affected than the rest," said Mr Lim.
Mr Lim said the concern would be supplies of cars from Japan.
However, he said that most distributors should have sufficient stock to cover them over the next two to three months, and there should not be any impact unless there are further delays in Japan's production recovery.
- CNA/cc
- wong chee tat :)
13 Million Americans Leave the Door Open to Identity Theft on Social Networks
13 Million Americans Leave the Door Open to Identity Theft on Social Networks
ID Analytics' Survey Finds Millions of U.S. Adults Willing to Accept Requests from Anyone of the Opposite Sex; Only Half Trust Online Connections to Keep Their Data Private
While adult Americans are willing to accept online connection requests on social media networks, only half (50 percent) of those who are on social networking sites actually trust those connections to keep their data private. Despite this lack of trust, the survey also found that more than 24 million Americans on social networking sites keep their online profiles "mostly public," meaning anyone can see their personal details.
Other Key Findings:
Younger Men More Likely to Accept Invites—Directionally*, the study found men between the ages of 18 to 34 on social networks were the most likely to accept invites from anyone of the opposite sex compared to older men.
Grabbing All the Friends You Can Get—The survey also found that five percent of U.S. adults on social networks will accept any friend request they receive – regardless of who sends them.
What Type of Friend Matters—Not all social networks are created equal. U.S. adults who have joined an online social network were twice as likely to state that it is important to have as many business social media contacts as possible (39 percent), compared to personal connections on social networks (19 percent). This sheds some insight into possible avenues of approach by fraudsters.
"American's lack of caution in friending members of the opposite sex online is striking," said Thomas Oscherwitz, chief privacy officer for ID Analytics, Inc. "Friending someone online is not risk-free. Just as in the bricks-and-mortar world, it makes sense to exercise a bit of prudence. Most social networking profiles contain personal information that can be used by fraudsters, and when you friend someone, you are giving them access to this information."
Fraudsters can use information in social networking profiles to build the dossiers they need to beat challenge questions and other security measures on financial accounts. The key identity elements that consumers should be careful before exposing on social networks are:
Consumers can check their risk of identity fraud at MyIDScore.com. This free online service gives consumers immediate insight into whether their personal identifiable information is being used fraudulently to obtain assets, goods or services.
This survey was conducted by telephone within the United States by Harris Interactive on behalf of ID Analytics between February 9 and 13, 2011 among 1,011 U.S. adults, of whom 387 have joined social networking sites. Results were weighted for age, sex, geographic region and race where necessary to align them with their actual proportions in the population. For complete methodology, including subgroup base sizes, please contact Liz Nelson or Jen Barlow at IDAnalytics@schwartzcomm.com.
*Caution should be used in analyzing these results due to small base sizes.
- wong chee tat :)
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