By: Kheng-Liang Tan
According to a Bloomberg report, British banking giant Barclays is intending to cut approximately 100 jobs in Singapore.
Citing sources who wish to remain anonymous as they are not authorised to speak on the matter, the report said that the employees are part of the Information Technology Operations team.
The IT function will be moved to India to save on costs. Concurrently, Barclays has since confirmed in a statement that it is in the process of cutting jobs in Singapore.
The statement acknowledged that they have “identified a number of additional roles that carry out global activity in Singapore which can be relocated”
Barclays said that they are “working closely with the colleagues impacted to ensure they are supported throughout the process.”
However, the statement fell short of confirming the number.
This is not the first time that MNCs have relocated their operations to neighbouring countries with cheaper costs.
Earlier in May, disk drive manufacturer Western Digital closed its Tuas plant to focus on China and Malaysia operations, leaving about 200 workers retrenched.
The month before, engineering MNC McDermott relocated its Singapore operations to Kuala Lumpur. The move saw about 300 jobs lost.