In Singapore's Suntec Tower Five, the waiting begins
Lehman staffers await fate; MAS says it's monitoring markets closelyBT, 16 Sep 2008
Shell-shocked Lehman Brothers employees in Suntec Tower Five were trying to put on a brave face yesterday, though none knew their fate following news that their company had filed for bankruptcy protection in the US.
Although many Lehman workers continued going to the office and answered the phone when BT called after 5pm, it was clear that they knew nothing more than what they could read from the Internet.
Lehman ramped up operations in Singapore since last year, employing 270 people, up from 60 two years ago. But Hong Kong continues to be pretty much the head office for Asia, and yesterday it was a public holiday there.
'We still have a morning meeting tomorrow (with Hong Kong),' said a managing director here. Asked what was happening in the office, he said: 'Things have a tendency to follow through. Clients won't want to trade with you for obvious reasons.'
Asked what he might do, he said: 'No idea at the moment.'
One source said that the meeting today will be to hear from human resources on a payout.
Lehman employs about 3,000 people in Asia, excluding its India back office.In a statement from New York, Lehman said that none of its subsidiaries will be immediately affected by the parent's bankruptcy filing and will continue to operate as usual.
Lehman said that it is still in talks to sell parts of its business, including its Neuberger Berman investment management division.
In conjunction with the bankruptcy filing, Lehman said that it intends to file 'a variety of first day motions that will allow it to continue to manage operations in the ordinary course. Those motions include requests to make wage and salary payments and continue other benefits to its employees'.
The Monetary Authority of Singapore said last night it is 'closely monitoring developments in the global financial markets and their impact on financial stability'.'Domestic money and foreign exchange markets are continuing to function in an orderly fashion,' a MAS spokeswoman said.
'MAS remains in close contact with the banks, the Singapore Exchange and financial institutions to monitor developments and to see to the orderly functioning of the markets.'
The Singapore Exchange confirmed yesterday that Lehman was meeting its financial obligations as usual.
DBS Bank spokeswoman Karen Ngui said DBS's direct exposure to Lehman is insignificant. 'On the retail front, some investment products DBS sold in the past, such as High Notes 2 and High Notes 5, have Lehman exposure. However, the global economic situation has changed dramatically and this has impacted the value of these investments,' she said.
'Our priority now is to ensure that our customers are well-informed of the latest market developments.'
OCBC Bank said last night that it is monitoring developments in the US and the global financial markets.'We have no announcement to make regarding Lehman at this point,' said OCBC spokeswoman Koh Ching Ching.
In February this year, OCBC was joint lead-arranger for Lehman Brothers' $250 million bond issue, which was sold to a wide range of investors - predominantly Singapore domestic buyers.
A United Overseas Bank spokeswoman said that the bank has little exposure to Lehman Brothers. 'The bank's total exposure to Lehman is very small and insignificant,' she said.
Lehman's Singapore office is its centre for commodities and foreign exchange trading in the Asia-Pacific. It also performs other functions such as fund distribution for Lehman's asset management arm and prime broking services for hedge funds in South-east Asia.
Just a year ago, the firm converted its branch office here into a full-fledged local subsidiary.
Hi K, was out at a party last night. Was watching the news though and calming relatives not to rush to AIA.
The dominos falling rather fast, quite scary.