7/10/2019

Deutsche Bank is a responsible employer...

As far as taking care of its retrenched employees is concerned, Duetsche Bank is doing what any other banks would do when retrenching their staff. They made sure that the staff would be duly compensated for their services with the bank. In this case, most of the equity department staff are employees and are covered by the Employment Act and would appropriately receive a retrenchment package before leaving the bank for good.

This is what was posted in theindependent.sg on this retrenchment exercise,

'The Deutsche bank spokeswoman assured the press that the bank would be directly in touch with employees. She added: “We understand these changes affect people’s lives profoundly and we will do whatever we can to be as responsible and sensitive as possible implementing these changes.”

Deutsche Bank’s Chief Executive Officer Christian Sewing called the retrenchment exercise part of a “restart.” In a letter to employees, he wrote: “We are creating a bank that will be more profitable, leaner, more innovative and more resilient.”'

Supposing that the equity staff of Deutsche Bank were agents of the bank like remisiers, would Deutsche Bank treat them just as fairly and compassionately as the bank treats its employees? Employees or agents of banks, in a retrenchment exercise when a bank closes down a department and people's lives are profoundly affected, any decent bank, the management of any decent bank, would likely treat them with grave responsibility and sensitivity. Any bank or management would be expected to treat their employees or agents whose livelihood are gravely and negatively impacted by their restructuring or retrenchment exercise to make the bank profitable with great sensitivity and compassion. Doing otherwise would reflect badly on the conscience and reputation of the management of the bank.

Would there be banks that would treat their retrenched staff or agents badly, inhumanly, insensitively in such a dreadful time when livelihoods are at stake? What kind of people would act so harshly and dismissively to their staff, agents or partners in business? What kind of respect would one have on such people if they could treat their staff, agents and partners poorly, miserly while they continue to receive their fat and comfortable pay while the retrenched leave the bank without the assurance of a job and with very little compensation?

I think and believe Deutsche Bank would do as spoken by its spokewoman. For if they were only giving lip service and do otherwise, the retrenched staff are not going to leave with a bad feeling for the bank but may even seek redress with the authority. Some may see their MPs or Ministers or even go to see the PM to pour out their grouses. The publicity would be very bad for the bank thereafter even if there is a compromise solution  subsequently.  Any bank in such a situation should think carefully not to ill treat their employees, agents or partners and think they can get away with it by under compensating the affected staff, agents or partners.

Would there be any irresponsible bank in Singapore that would treat their staff, agents and partners unfairly in the event of a retrenchment or restructuring exercise?

25 comments:

  1. //...Would there be any irresponsible bank in Singapore that would treat their staff, agents and partners unfairly in the event of a retrenchment or restructuring exercise? //
    Probably, in Sinkieland, the banks might disguise it as a form of "underperformance of staffs KPI" & slowly but gradually axe them a few at a time & quietly tactically recruiting new employees or interns from a foreign land, thru' gei gei go thru garmen job portal search for locals & cudnt find start recruiting from foreigners pools, gradually all the locals or those "underperform" ones will all be replace, tis jus one scenario & only a tip of iceberg in Sinkieland cos no the garmen also gei gei mah cho he cho ma they see li see li eh dai chee ma.

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  2. @RB,

    You already shoot yourself when you said remeisiers (like yourself) are agents & not employees.

    So did you go seek redress from PM???!? Get ministers to re-look at Employment Act to treat agents same way as employees??? After all, parliament recently updated the Employment Act to treat part-timers & freelancers with greater protections (after much lobbying by various MPs and workers).

    @All,

    PS: Readers need to ask themselves why people like RB choose to remain as agents rather than transition to employees. Sometimes no choice due to industry structure e.g. taxi or Grab drivers/deliverymen, or is very difficult e.g. insurance & property agents (but can still be done). But for someone like RB with many decades in the financial markets industry, it should be quite easy to transition along the way.

    One major reason why people choose to remain as agents & forgo employee benefits such as medical & annual leave, is because of potential unlimited earnings. Yes, it's becoz of $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$. And many know that as more or less fixed salary employees, their bonuses won't be able to compare with so much earnings in sales commissions.

    PPS: Deutsche ex-staff should be thankful that they worked for a West-European MNC company & that it was a global retrenchment with majority of retrenchments in Europe. They can easily compare with their European counterparts whether there's any big shortchange in retrenchment compensation. Very likely Deutsche will compensate S'pore ex-staff 1-month-pay-for-each-year-service-if-you-worked-at-least-2-years. This is considered quite cheap compared to retrenchment benefits in Europe. Their S'pore office is also one of their bigger ones, so they won't shortchange & damage their reputation.

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  3. Honest, sincere and conscionable leaders would not take advantage of such a situation by coming out with all sorts of hairy fairy tails as excuses in order to leave their retrenched workers in a lurch.

    Likewise, honest, sincere and conscionable ministers would not enrich themselves by dipping their hands into the taxpayers' money and make themselves multi-millionaires by using all sorts of Harry-Fairy tails to "justify" for their greed and lack of conscience.

    If ministers have been 7unconscionable for more than twenty years, what would CEOs of private sectors do? Follow the lead, isn't it?

    So, when assessing Singapore banks, just assess the ministers and you will get the answer easily.

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  4. In the case of remisiers, when the relationship is that of a principle and agent, the compensation caused by a restructuring exercise leading to the closure of business or loss of business and when the principle gains by taking over the agent's business, is to compensate for taking over a ongoing business with the clienteles built and developed over the years.

    No conscionable company would take over a business and list of clients without compensating the agent/partners etc. There is value in the client list, goodwill and business developed over the years.

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  5. @frog outside glass 9.20am

    ..u r most probably correct in the plight of the garmen minions in this red dot. Juz a few day ago, ah Cow already announced to the dafts Sinkies saying that if u all wan better service reliability from the asshMrt u all will need to pay more. Wah, u see he so fast ready to suck the dafts Sinkies oredi, their motto u wan better pay lor. He forget where his monies come from,after a decade of little or no maint at the asshmrt line, frequent breakdowns force them to do it, now after doing it, claimed its expansive to maintain then why on first place build it might as well scrap it & use other better cos effective method, their motto of what wrong with collecting more monies from the people never stops, it goes on & on until one day it will be ...

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  6. But the clientele will follow you right?!?

    There is no contract between the principal & the clientele for securities trading.

    With a central depository system like in S'pore, banks or non-banks or remeisiers or online trading or AI robots are all the same to clients --- merely platforms. Clients can & do move from one to another --- they simply go to the one that treats them best at the point in time.

    Are you the best (or even good)??!? If so the clients will follow you. Why complain?!?

    It can be said that the principal will lose clientele & has to re-build its order book or clients.

    So when self-driving & AI matures in 10 years, and Grab and Gojek and ComfortDelgro replaces all drivers with AI --- they also need to compensate lost lifetime earnings to the taxi drivers & private-hire drivers?!?!?!?

    Bus drivers are employees, so they will get retrenchment compensation from SBS Transit & SMRT. When the time of self-driving is approaching, taxi & Grab drivers who are so GODDAMN GIAN about retrenchment package should quickly transition to become SBS bus driver.

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  7. In DBSV's case, the bank wants to keep all the online clients. As for the balance, it is very troublesome to transfer clients to another broking house and most clients would not want to go through the hassle. Clients that have got used to the DBS online platform would just stay on.

    Remisiers would lose a lot of clients. They are only able to take along those that are closed to them.

    The end result, big loss in clientele to DBS.

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  8. Hi

    no point talking so much now.....waste time

    just ask them who had they voted at the last GE

    they deserved who they had voted

    but not late not late

    next GE must be smart-est when come to voting

    hahaha.............

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  9. Rb normally western companies are very fair in retrechment. Having gone through three times all fairly compensated but local one u die your bisuness see mp also no use lar

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  10. @ all

    @ 1919 is absolutely right. You're damn lucky if you're part of a mass restructuring aka mass retrenchment of a western MNC, particularly a European/ Canadian one. You will be treated with VALUE and CONSIDERATION.

    In those societies, the culture is to treat every individual with respect.

    You are thinking in fantasies if you allow your imagination to run wild and even dream of that occurring here, where the general case is you end up fucking spiders, you die... too bad lah. 👍👍😎

    In our society, if you cost too much money or trouble, regardless of your value, you'll be swiftly fucked off for something cheaper. Short term thinking. Short time fucking.

    That is why you need to have your fucking head right and protect your physical health, your mental health and your financial/economic health, because "you die your business". 🤑

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  11. @ Chua Chin Leng aka redbean July 10, 2019 10:00 am: "Remisiers would lose a lot of clients. They are only able to take along those that are closed to them."


    Uncle Chua,

    Readers can feel your (deep) pain, your (intense) exasperation and frustration, your (extreme) indignation, even your (boundless) anguish...

    Despair NOT?

    "Justice" might come sooner than you could imagine?


    Cheers

    PS: Chin up. Many things may be taken from a man. But they can't take away his dignity, his fighting spirit, his will.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Some (of the Next) General Election Matters – by (Politically Neutral) OldDragon28July 10, 2019 5:01 pm

    Some (of the Next) General Election Matters – by (Politically Neutral) OldDragon28

    Part 1:

    Something happened in the past week. For a (very) long time, nothing (coming) close has happened. But happened it did.
    Source: TOC
    "Prominent party leaders and social activists attended .... dinner ..."

    For the longest time, Singaporeans haven't seen such a (concerted) gathering...



    If body language tells a thousand pictures, what does it tell?
    Source: The Independent News
    "Tan Cheng Bock ..., meets... yet again."

    To say the least, the first impression of the photos is quite "startling" ...




    Let Singaporeans decide? Sure! We will.
    Source: The Independent News
    ///// Heng Swee Keat on Tan Cheng Bock’s Progress
    Singapore Party: “Singaporeans have to decide
    who can serve them better” /////

    Yea, as far as mindself is concerned, will (DEFINITELY continue to) decide up to "cooling day" (itself) or "right up till in the booth... seconds before putting (self-inking) pen to paper"?




    Given the latest development, it seems that the certainty is as good as predicting the weather next month which day will rain (and which day will not)?

    With that note, (after many nights (and days) of (enormous) deliberation, the conclusion is (quite) obvious? Nothing should be decided till the end? In short, Neutrality in Tranquillity (by sitting on the fence) …?



    To be cont'd in Part 2 of Some (of the Next) General Election Matters – by (Politically Neutral) OldDragon28

    Disclaimer: To whom it may concern. If there is any unintentional incorrect info mentioned/ written, relevant party pls flag out and necessary updated info to be posted accordingly.

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  13. @ more "good years"

    One thing about desperate people clinging to HOPE… Their brains will undoubtedly play tricks on them and affect them with COGNITIVE BIASES. There are numerous, but one in particular is trying to find a "meaningful pattern" in meaningless events. ie those events which people mistake as "signal", focus their attention on, and then construct "theories". Opposition candidates can appear to be gaining ground… Maybe that's correct...or maybe it's the human brain playing tricks on itself.

    One cognitive bias is inescapable though. This has deep roots on when our early species was hunting and gathering on the savannahs of Africa. Whatever was already possessed was more valuable than if one did not possess it and had to obtain it.

    This is the ENDOWMENT BIAS
    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endowment_effect

    This is hardwired. Biological. It performs the basic role of survival and security.

    And it is this biological quirk which is impossible to overcome. The only way you "conquer" it is by force of will, meaning you will still feel "negative emotions" when knowingly acting against your feelings. To get the PAP out, people have to go against their biology. They have to do things which make them feel uncomfortable.

    And IMO, they won't do it. Which is why the PAP is here to stay.

    More good years! 🤡☑️☑️😂

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  14. @RB 10am,

    Your excuses can bluff 2 yr olds. But anyone with just 6 mths experience with stock markets can see thru your BS.

    Online clients don't bother with remeisiers, so they are never your clients to begin with.

    Most people I know who trade / invest in stocks etc have more than 1 broking accounts with different companies. It only takes a few minutes of mouse clicking & online money transfer to open a new broking account.

    Since stock / bond holdings are kept & recorded in CDP, doesn't matter which broker or platform I use (as long not custodian account). I can buy ABC shares using DBSV this month & sell the same ABC shares next month using Philips POEMS.

    If I have a damn good broker or remeisier who has helped me earn lots of $$$$$$$$, for sure I will keep on going back to him, even if he keeps job hopping & changing companies like changing underwear.

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  15. Anon 10:19pm, the reason why I am still in the business is that I don't waste time with cheap clients like you. My big clients are still with me and will follow me. The commission from one trade of my big clients is more than the commission you pay in one whole month.

    Who cares about clients like you?

    I willingly let go of my online clients. No need to bother. But some of my close friends trading online would still follow me. And that is more than what I need to be comfortable. Get it?

    You think you are a big trader aka big fish and remisiers will be begging for your business. Your kind of big fish are kept in big fish tank. Our big fish are kept in the ocean. No time for you.

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  16. Uncle RB, you talk as if you're a big time remisier like that one that owns a football club. No siree, you're not. Otherwise where you got time to write hogwash every day and go run with the other oldie aunties and uncles once in a while.

    I say to you, stop harping and ranting about your former principal and move on.

    Since you're getting on in years, maybe you can also open a wanton mee stall and make more money than when you were hawking shares.

    Best wishes.

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  17. Do not underestimate the value of good remisiers.

    My remisier at UOBKH is super hardworking, sending me brokers' research reports from all the broking houses every day on a timely basis.

    Daily he sent me 20-30 research reports.

    He also sent me schedule of all upcoming Singapore corporate quarterly results reporting.

    He also daily send me technical charts of interesting technical developments, eg break of trendlines, overbought RSI, candlestick patterns etc, etc for buy/sell trading signals.

    He also marketed me various trading instruments from his broking house, not just equities, sq CFDs, short-selling a/c, ETFs, options, etc etc for various trading strategies.

    Also, market flows, intelligence, etc etc.

    He send me interesting equity-related news even on weekends Saturdays and Sundays !!

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  18. That's because your remisier treats you as his / her BOSS! Customers or clients are KING.

    My remisiers at Citibank, UOB-KH and OCBC Securities, and Lim and Tan Non-bank Brokerage also send me regularly (daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly and annually) all the reports, datas, analyses, charts, etc. But my remisier at Phillips Securities sucks - always gives me the wrong advice and very slow to respond to my buying/selling instructions.

    In any trading/deal, time is money. Any delay means either loss of opportunity or loss of money.

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  19. For fark sake, stop reading all the rubbish report and charts from your remisiers. They are more than useless. By reading them, it robs you of precious time you can spend with some mahjong games with old aunties and uncles.

    One tweet from the imbecilic president and all your charts, reports recommendations etc are rendered useless.

    Just buy a good blue chip at low, lock it in the drawer and bring it out to sell when the next boom comes around.

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  20. @Anon 12:49am,

    That's NOT a good remeisier. He/she is simply spamming you with free marketing & free reports from all over the place. It's just like an insurance agent or property agent bombarding you daily with "industry reports", "analyst reports", "trends" etc etc in the hope that you'll open your wallet & he can collect his commissions.

    You can easily get all these reports etc for free --- but 80% of them are rubbish, 10% are meh, and only 10% are useful. It's better that you yourself do your own curating & subscribe to regular free alerts or emails of the more useful sources.

    From a lot of the comments here, I can see that majority of so-called investors are simply gamblers betting on the next 4D or Toto stock or "get rich quick attitude" or buy-the-next-hottest-thing types. Brokers & remeisiers LOVE this type of customers!! LOL!!

    WSG

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  21. Anon 11:27pm,

    No I am not a big remisier. But I am comfortable enough that I could just retire without having to worry about bread and butter issue for the rest of my life.

    I do not have to try to trade in the cheapest possible way to earn a few bucks to live and get on with life like you.

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  22. @ all

    One thing about the markets is that they are the last bastion of reasonably (not perfectly) FREE MARKETS, where your mouth-talk is completely useless, the only talk of worth is when you use your MONEY to do the talking. If you lose all your money, you cannot "talk" anymore... you're silenced! 🔇
    Therefore the only logical idea is to never lose all your money... i.e. stay alive as long as you can.
    Capitalism is a game where participants start of with a pile. The winner is the contestant with the LARGEST PILE at the end of the game. It is not about aesthetics, or philosophy or simi tai chi... it's just about making money, and ensuring you KEEP it.

    The market is a great leveler. Everyone comes in with just 3 things, and the only "edge" you can get is essentially an edge on either of these 3 things. These 3 things are.

    1 Your information
    2 Your Technique/ Method of trading/investing
    3 Your psychology

    Everything in the market is quickly arbitraged away because markets are great disseminators of new information...i.e. what you know, other people also know. Unless you are privy to proprietary or insider information, the 6 is NO EDGE. Last time I checked, using insider info to trade is a criminal offence.

    Remisiers are the last of "full customer service" in a rapidly changing game.
    If you go to a multi-star Michelin restaurant with full table service, you'll end up paying a lot more than if you ate at a fast food joint. You'll get the same macros like protein, carbs and fats...but the EXPERIENCE will vastly differ. The Michelin joint will be exclusive, and you'll be part of a very exclusive group who is WILLING TO PAY for the extra value: PERSONALISED ATTENTION.
    Being a remisier is having superb people skills. People are paying you extra for service. "Value" is an imagination in the mind of the recipient. If people think what you give them for their money is of "value", BINGO… You're going to keep earning from them. Congratulations, you're a good capitalist! 🤑

    However, among the younger ones, and people like myself who view investing as an "intellectual pursuit by which score is kept by monetary accounting", we either do our own "digging" or adopt the myriad tools now available for free or at (relatively) low cost on the internet.

    Fin Tech has come a long long long way. People investing / trading over their smart phones is growing so quickly now. You can go full or semi automated with ROBO ADVISERS, which charge a few basis points. You can subscribe to stock screeners, select filters or draw your lines etc. … All on your phone, then place the order.

    Remember when it was $40-50 minimum commission (or more) per trade? Minimums have dropped to ZERO now, commissions are earned on spreads of a few basis points, or on currency conversion.

    Price competition is great for any market. The customer can choose to be fully serviced by a human remisier, or be fully automated by a robo adviser.

    Up to you lah. 👍 Free choice. Free markets. Free individuals.

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  23. @ WSG & others who don't like high commissions:

    Have you read "Where are the customers yachts?" Very funny, bit also very true.

    Fin Tech example: the rise of TD Ameritrade (over 800,000 trades per day!! Not one remisier in sight!)
    https://www.bloomberg.com/news/audio/2019-07-10/tim-hockey-and-tom-nally-discuss-robo-advisors-podcast

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  24. @Matilah,

    Yup read it 20 years ago ... timeless story from a book first published in 1940 about Depression Era Wall Street & still damn true today.

    Another good one is "Richest Man In Babylon" first published during the Roaring 20s in 1926.

    Those were the days when trading commissions were at least US$100 per pop, at a time when the median salary was way below US$100 per month.

    Since 1990, many rich & successful investors have tried to educate the masses about high costs & behaviour of financial industry that benefited themselves but disadvantaged the customers.

    However it took a perfect storm (GFC & maturing of portable, accessible and secure internet) to really bring about democratisation of investing / trading services & costs.

    Full service brokers are going the way of the Dodo. Old brokers like RB should count themselves lucky as they will simply follow their few remaining full service customers into the sunset. Those middle-aged brokers will be the hardest hit.

    Many full service brokerage companies are gone or bought over or simply reduced / cut off from corporate budget to wither away. Look at Citigroup, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank, UBS, Bank of America, BNP, Wells Fargo, Barclays, HSBC, RBS, Lloyds Bank et al.

    Even Goldman has to go on bended knee to serve non-millionaire & non-billionaire customers.

    DBS should be applauded for taking the initiative when stockbroking business in S'pore is still not as terok & competitive as US .... when DBS is able to dictate the moves from position of strength rather than waiting for the inevitable & doing restructuring during weakness in recession or bad times.

    RB should be recommending his clients to buy DBS on dips, instead of writing multiple blog posts ranting about his experience with DBS.

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  25. @ WSG

    Yeah, something many people find difficulty in coming to terms with:
    Company restructures and sheds a large portion of its labour force....share price of said company RISES!

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