BNP Paribas Said to Cut About 15 Research Analyst Jobs in Asia

BNP Paribas SA (BNP), France’s largest bank, cut about 15 equity research jobs in Asia in the last month including Jim Hung, the head of research in Taiwan, said two people with knowledge of the matter.

Wee Siang Ng, a Singapore-based banks analyst, and Jakarta- based Tjandra Lienandjaja, Helmy Kristanto and Julianto Wongso were among those who lost their jobs, said the people, who asked not to be identified as they aren’t authorized to speak to the press.

BNP Paribas said last November it planned to eliminate about 1,400 jobs at its corporate- and investment-banking unit, or 6.5 percent of the division’s staff, with most reductions aimed at the capital-markets and structured-finance businesses. It had completed 70 percent of the division’s planned job cuts by the end of May, the Paris-based bank said in a June 13 presentation published on its website.

“This is not part of the 1,400 job cuts announced earlier,” said Christian Beydon, a Hong Kong-based spokesman at BNP Paribas. “It relates to the adaption of our business to suit clients’ needs in Asia,” he said, referring to a press release issued on Sept. 27 announcing the appointment of Lee Cook as head of cash equity for Asia-Pacific and emerging markets in Europe, Middle East and Africa.

The bank’s coverage will focus on greater coordination across and between regional equity analyst teams, and on companies with deeper liquidity and larger market capitalization, he said.

Hung did not respond to a voice message left on his office phone and the person at the switchboard at BNP Paribas’s Taipei office said Hung did not work at the bank. Ng could not be reached on his extension at BNP Paribas’s Singapore office. A person who picked up the phone at the Jakarta office said that Lienandjaja, Kristanto and Wongso left the company at the end of last month.

To contact the reporter on this story: Sanat Vallikappen in Singapore at vallikappen@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Chitra Somayaji at csomayaji@bloomberg.net

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BNP Paribas Said to Cut About 15 Research Analyst Jobs in Asia

Balint Porneczi/Bloomberg

BNP Paribas said last November it planned to eliminate about 1,400 jobs at its corporate-and investment-banking unit, or 6.5 percent of the division’s staff, with most reductions aimed at the capital-markets and structured-finance businesses.

BNP Paribas said last November it planned to eliminate about 1,400 jobs at its corporate-and investment-banking unit, or 6.5 percent of the division’s staff, with most reductions aimed at the capital-markets and structured-finance businesses. Photographer: Balint Porneczi/Bloomberg