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  • HSBC To Cut Jobs Globally To Focus On Asia

    HSBC To Cut Jobs Globally To Focus On Asia

    HSBC will slash as many as 50,000 jobs worldwide in an effort to streamline its businesses and improve its sluggish performance as it shifts its focus back to fast-growing Asian economies, Europe’s biggest bank said yesterday.

    About half of the staff cuts will come from the sale of HSBC’s businesses in Brazil and Turkey, while the other half will come from cutting about 10 per cent of the remaining 233,000 staff by consolidating IT and back-office operations, and closing branches. About 7,000 to 8,000 of the workforce reduction are expected to be in Britain, where it is based.

    When asked by TODAY, Mr Daniel Fitzpatrick, head of HSBC Singapore’s corporate communications, declined to comment on whether there would be any job cuts or gains in Singapore. The bank, which has been in Singapore since 1877, employs about 3,000 people here, its website shows.

    The global workforce reduction exercise is part of a second attempt by HSBC chief executive Stuart Gulliver to boost profits since he took the helm at the start of 2011. The previous effort was foiled by high compliance costs, fines, low interest rates and weak growth.

    The cuts will leave HSBC with about 208,000 staff by 2017, down from 258,000 at the end of last year, though the bank said it would be hiring in growth businesses and its compliance division.

    HSBC also said it will cut its assets on a risk-adjusted basis by US$290 billion (S$392 billion) by 2017. That will include a reduction of US$140 billion in the Global Banking and Markets division, its investment bank, where returns have suffered in tough market conditions.

    HSBC also lowered its target for return on equity to “greater than 10 per cent” by 2017, down from a previous target of 12 to 15 per cent by next year. Overall, HSBC aims to cut costs by between US$4.5 billion and US$5 billion by the end of 2017.

    A key tenet of HSBC’s strategy unveiled yesterday is to expand its presence in China and across the Asia-Pacific region. HSBC has a sizeable presence across Asia deriving from its deep historic ties to the region.

    It was founded in Hong Kong in 1865 when the city was a British colony in order to finance growing trade between China and Europe.

    “Asia is expected to show high growth and become the centre of global trade over the next decade,’’ said Mr Gulliver.

    HSBC’s plans to accelerate its investments in Asia will involve the expansion of its asset management and insurance businesses in a bid to earn more profits from the region’s rapidly expanding class of newly wealthy.

    In particular, the bank is planning to expand in southern China’s Pearl River Delta manufacturing hub in southern Guangdong province, which is next door to Hong Kong and one of the wealthiest regions in the world’s No 2 economy.

    It is also planning a similar expansion exercise in South-east Asia, where booming economic growth in countries such as Indonesia is swelling the ranks of the middle classes.

    The Asian pivot raises the likelihood that HSBC will shift its headquarters to Hong Kong.

    HSBC has set out criteria it will use to evaluate whether to move its headquarters from London, where a bank levy cost the lender £700 million (S$1.45 billion) last year. These include factors such as economic growth, the tax system, government support for the growth of the banking system, long-term stability, and the possibility of attracting good staff.

    The bank said it would complete the review of the possible move by the end of this year.

     

    Source: www.todayonline.com

  • BAPA Lancar Kempen Mengumpul Dana Bagi Membantu Pelarian Syria

    BAPA Lancar Kempen Mengumpul Dana Bagi Membantu Pelarian Syria

    DERMA ikhlas masyarakat Singapura sangat diharapkan bagi membantu rakyat Syria yang berlindung di kem pelarian dekat sempadan Turkey.

    Mereka yang tinggal dalam khemah di kawasan pergunungan sedang menghadapi musim salji yang sangat sejuk dengan suhu -10 darjah Celsius.

    Justeru, Badan Agama Dan Pelajaran Radin Mas (Bapa) melancarkan kempen mengumpul dana kecemasan baru-baru ini bagi membantu pelarian itu.

    Kempen tersebut akan diteruskan sehingga hujung bulan ini, kata Ketua Khidmat Kemanusiaan Bapa, Ustaz Muhammad Zahid Mohd Zin.

    Pihaknya tidak meletakkan jumlah sasaran untuk dikumpul, namun berharap masyarakat Singapura dapat menghulurkan derma seikhlas hati bagi mengurangkan penderitaan mangsa perang saudara di negara Timur Tengah itu.

    Menurut Ustaz Zahid, jumlah yang dikumpul akan diserahkan kepada rakan kerja mereka di Syria, Muslim Aid Australia, untuk membeli barang keperluan musim sejuk seperti selimut, alat pemanas dan pakaian panas.

    “Bantuan itu akan dihulurkan kepada sekitar 20,000 pelarian yang tinggal dalam keadaan penuh kedaifan, dalam khemah yang dibuat daripada kanvas tipis. Tiada alat pemanas dalam khemah itu. Bayi perlu sentiasa didukung agar mereka tidak terdedah kepada udara sejuk.

    “Setiap malam, ahli keluarga tidur dalam keadaan berpelukan bagi mengurangkan rasa dingin,” kata Ustaz Zahid, yang kali terakhir pergi ke Syria April lalu.

    Beliau menambah bahawa kadar kematian bayi dan warga emas di kem pelarian semasa musim sejuk meningkat setiap tahun sejak empat tahun lalu. Mangsa meninggal dunia akibat radang paru-paru.

    Ustaz Zahid menerangkan bahawa ini kali pertama Bapa membuat rayuan kecemasan sejak mula mengumpul dana bagi keperluan musim sejuk dua tahun lalu.

    “Kami diberitahu musim salji kali ini terlalu sejuk, berbeza daripada tahun-tahun sudah.

    “Cuaca di Syria mula dingin sejak September dan musim sejuk hanya akan berakhir sekitar Mac. Cuaca paling buruk dijangka berlaku bulan ini dan bulan depan.

    “Disebabkan itu, kami hanya mengadakan kempen mengumpul dana bagi keperluan musim sejuk sehingga hujung bulan ini,” jelas Ustaz Zahid.

    Beliau berkata bekalan musim sejuk yang telah disediakan badan-badan kemanusiaan, seperti kayu api, semakin susut sedangkan pada mulanya ia dijangka dapat bertahan sehingga Februari.

     

    Source: http://beritaharian.sg

  • Soldier And Firefighter Among Latest Malaysian IS Recruits

    Soldier And Firefighter Among Latest Malaysian IS Recruits

    KUALA LUMPUR: A SOLDIER and a firefighter are among the latest Malaysian recruits to join the Islamic State (IS) movement in Syria.

    Sources revealed that the soldier, who was supposed to attend an 11-month course at the Sungai Besi Army Music Training Centre from April 7, had gone missing on Oct 14.

    Investigations showed that the soldier had applied for an international passport on July 31 at Terengganu Immigration Department before leaving the country on Oct 25 via Bangkok on a 6.05am flight.

    The 27-year-old corporal attached to the 7th battalion Royal Malay Regiment had allegedly taken a flight from Kota Baru, Kelantan, to Kuala Lumpur International Airport 2 the day before.

    The New Straits Times learnt that the corporal, who goes by the name Al-Azhar Malize, is with other Malaysians who have established themselves as senior IS fighters.

    What made him stand out among other Malaysians fighting in Syria is that he is always seen in pictures on Syrian battlefields clad in Malaysian military fatigues.

    Investigations also revealed that his brother, a soldier at the Seberang Takir, Terengganu camp, received a WhatsApp message from him saying he had left to join IS in Syria.

    Sources told the NST that ongoing probes were centred on how he was recruited and who his contacts were.

    “The military’s Defence Staff Intelligence Division is monitoring the status of the corporal and identifying parties who are bent on recruiting more fighters, including military personnel, to join IS,” the sources said.

    Sources said they were establishing the background of the fireman said to be posted at the Shah Alam fire station.

    Meanwhile, the NST was made aware of a Malaysian family of six, including two toddlers, that had made its way to Syria recently.

    “Like other families that have left their home countries in pursuit of martyrdom in Syria, the man will be sent out to the battlefields. The woman will be given specific tasks, and the children will be taken care of,” the sources said.

     

    Source: https://sg.news.yahoo.com

  • Pusat Pendidikan Temasek Ditubuh Di Turkey Bagi Kanak-Kanak Pelarian Syria

    Pusat Pendidikan Temasek Ditubuh Di Turkey Bagi Kanak-Kanak Pelarian Syria

    SECEBIS sumbangan Singapura dalam bentuk sebuah sekolah kini wujud di Turkey untuk kanak-kanak pelarian Syria.

    Diberi nama Pusat Pendidikan Temasek, sekolah yang ditubuhkan hasil sumbangan warga Singapura itu telah dirasmikan minggu lalu di bandar Kilis di tenggara Turkey dekat sempadan Syria.

    Pembinaan sekolah itu merupakan sebahagian daripada Projek Bantuan bagi Pelarian Syria di Turkey (Asrit), yang diterajui pusat pendidikan setempat SimplyIslam dan Rangkaian Ekspatriat Muslim (MEX), sebuah divisyen Angkatan Karyawan Islam (AMP), dan disokong pelbagai badan Islam di Singapura, termasuk Yayasan Rahmatan Lil Alamin (RLAF).

    Bangunan sekolah empat tingkat itu telah dibeli pada harga $350,000 hasil sumbangan masyarakat Islam Singapura – antaranya melalui kutipan yang diadakan RLAF.

    Sekolah yang mempunyai lima bilik darjah dan sebuah makmal komputer itu boleh menampung 400 pelajar, iaitu di peringkat menengah dan prasekolah.

    Sejak beroperasi September lalu, sekolah itu mempunyai sekitar 150 pelajar sejauh ini.

    Sekolah itu diiktiraf lembaga pendidikan di Syria, yang bermakna pelajar boleh meneruskan pengajian mereka di institusi di Syria sekembalinya mereka ke sana.

    Majlis perasmian sekolah itu pada 9 Disember lalu turut dihadiri Ketua Projek Asrit, Encik Mohamed Nassir Abdul Sukkur; anggota lembaga pengamanah Yayasan Rahmatan Lil Alamin (RLAF), Encik Zainul Abidin Ibrahim; dan Pengarah (Masjid) Muis, Encik Mohamad Helmy Md Isa.

    “Pusat itu juga menyediakan tempat selamat bagi kanak-kanak itu berinteraksi, jauh daripada trauma dan pengeboman yang mereka alami, dan yang telah menyebabkan mereka lari dari Syria,” ujar Encik Nassir, yang juga pengarah urusan SimplyIslam.

    Encik Zainul pula berkata usaha Asrit dan RLAF tidak akan berhenti dengan perasmian sekolah itu.

    “Kami akan membawa belia daripada masjid, madrasah dan institusi pengajian tinggi di Singapura ke sekolah ini untuk pelbagai program, seperti pembinaan perpustakaan yang lebih baik dan program seperti terapi muzik dan terapi seni untuk memberi kekuatan kepada kanak-kanak di sini,” ujar Encik Zainul, yang juga Pengarah Pendekatan Strategik di Muis.

    Perpustakaan di sekolah itu sekarang mempunyai buku yang didermakan oleh Madrasah Al-Irsyad Al-Islamiah dan Sekolah Menengah Tampines di Singapura.

    Asrit dan RLAF bergabung tenaga dengan Kimse Yok Mu, badan kemanusiaan antarabangsa berpangkalan di Turkey yang berpengalaman mengendalikan sistem persekolahan, bagi penubuhan sekolah tersebut.

    Selain itu, Asrit dan RLAF turut memanfaatkan sumbangan warga Singapura bagi membeli barang keperluan untuk pelarian Syria di Kilis dan di Sanliurfa – satu lagi bandar dekat sempadan Syria – serta makanan panas yang disiapkan setiap hari untuk pelarian.

    Remaja dari Aleppo, Syria, Hajar Sheikh Muhammad, 17 tahun, meluahkan penghargaannya atas sumbangan rakyat Singapura.

    “Kami akan sentiasa terhutang budi kepada anda. Terima kasih Singapura,” ujarnya.

     

    Source:http://beritaharian.sg/

  • United Nations Suspends Distribution Of World Food Program Vouchers In Embattled Middle East Countries Due To Lack Of Funds

    United Nations Suspends Distribution Of World Food Program Vouchers In Embattled Middle East Countries Due To Lack Of Funds

    A lack of funds has forced the United Nations to stop providing food vouchers for 1.7 million Syrian refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, Iraq and Egypt, the World Food Programme (WFP) said on Monday.

    “Without WFP vouchers, many families will go hungry. For refugees already struggling to survive the harsh winter, the consequences of halting this assistance will be devastating,” said the U.N. agency, which needs $64 million to support the refugees for the rest of December.

    Suspension of the assistance program comes as many vulnerable Syrian families enter their fourth bleak winter in difficult living conditions after fleeing a homeland racked by conflict since March 2011.

    “This couldn’t come at a worse time,” said U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres in a statement.

    The impact could be particularly devastating in Lebanon, where more than 1.1 million Syrian refugees — one-quarter of the country’s permanent population — are scattered across some 1,700 communities, according to the U.N. refugee agency. Many live in makeshift settlements, sheds, garages and unfinished buildings.

    The electronic voucher program has already injected about $800 million into local shops in the countries hosting refugees, and WFP will immediately resume it if new funding arrives, it said in the statement.

    It was not clear how hungry Syrian refugees might fill the gap left by WFP suspending its voucher program.

    WFP had warned last month that it might be forced to impose such a suspension and said it might have to announce a similar measure in January for people reliant on aid within Syria, where at least 7.6 million people are internally displaced.

    The Rome-based agency has already cut rations for 4.25 million people it is providing food supplies to in Syria.

    “WFP will not be able to continue its life-saving operations inside Syria in February without additional funding,” WFP spokeswoman Elisabeth Byrs told Reuters on Monday.

    The U.N. refugee agency has said that a lack of cash has forced it to prioritize as it helps those in need prepare for winter, with preference for people at higher, colder altitudes and vulnerable refugees such as newborn babies. REUTERS

     

    Source: www.todayonline.com