How did the United States transfer to other countries when it encountered financial crises in the past and escape unscathed?

The current financial tsunami on Wall Street is approaching rapidly. Some even call it a "once-in-a-century" financial crisis. When Wall Street is in panic, the Wall Street dreams of those Wall Street elites who have always been shrouded in the aura of wealth, It also seemed to be ruthlessly broken overnight.

1. The peak of layoffs is coming

A Chinese who has been trading on Wall Street for nearly 20 years told reporters that the current situation is quite serious. From what I know about the century-old history of Wall Street, It seems that this atmosphere is similar to the terrifying atmosphere that prevailed on Wall Street in 1929 when financial companies went bankrupt.

This Wall Street person said that there is such a classic scene that has been widely reported by major media: On September 15, the night before Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy, the whole company was brightly lit, and employees rummaged through boxes and cabinets all night to clean out items. , and even copied customer contact information to prepare for the next wave of job hunting, and everyone knew it tacitly. Some managers and traders are still busy working overtime, liquidating bankruptcies, and preparing complicated accounts lists. It is reported that Lehman Brothers employs 25,000 people worldwide and 13,000 employees in New York. Now with Barclays Bank acquiring part of Lehman Brothers’ business, 10,000 employees will be rehired. Nomura Securities has won Lehman Brothers’ Asia-wide franchise in one fell swoop. After acquiring the operating rights and European business, more than 5,000 employees were "saved". But it is inevitable that a number of Wall Street personnel will lose their jobs. A Wall Street headhunting firm said it predicted that Barclays may lay off up to 5,000 employees in the acquired business units, based on its allocation of US$2.5 billion for possible dismissal and renewal costs.

Since the current reorganization process of Wall Street’s financial landscape has not yet been completed, the real peak of layoffs has not yet truly arrived. As purchases, mergers and other links have reached a stage, it is estimated that the peak of layoffs will follow after the end of the year. arrival.

2. The risk of layoffs is everywhere

Most people think that Wall Street people affected by the financial crisis are those financial institutions that declared bankruptcy and were annexed. This is not necessarily the case. Bank of America is the winner of the acquisition of Merrill Lynch. However, when reporters interviewed Ms. Jacklin, vice president of sales business in the interest rate department of Bank of America on October 1, she told reporters, I was laid off from my company just last night. She clearly remembers that the person in charge of the company had a face-to-face conversation with her and then submitted a written notice. She was easily abandoned by the company she had worked for for 6 years.

This top student from Singapore, who graduated from Columbia University with an MBA in finance, told reporters with deep emotion that the current financial crisis is very scary, and the entire Wall Street does not feel very good. In the past, people in the industry In addition to getting their own salary, everyone hopes to get a generous "bonus" or "dividend" at the end of the year, but now it seems that this extravagant hope is gone forever, and the glory days of Wall Street's huge profits are no longer there. The seriousness of the problem is that not only people at Bear Stearns, Lehman, and Merrill Lynch are feeling the pressure, but there is almost panic within Bank of America, which acquired Merrill Lynch. "Colleagues are all frightened, and everyone is uneasy. We all know very well that after the merger of Merrill Lynch, we will integrate resources and staff between the two companies. Many businesses of Merrill Lynch's original company already exist. Moreover, Merrill Lynch has done well in some aspects. Therefore, within the new organizational structure, there will inevitably be competition between the personnel of the two companies. Even the employees of Bank of America are panicked. Although large-scale layoffs have not yet begun, But people are worried about their job security. It can be said that everyone has no sense of security.

Ms. Jacklin told reporters that from a broad perspective, the process of layoffs depends on the progress of internal integration of financial institutions. From a specific link, the process of layoffs depends on the situation of various departments within the company. Even if you are lucky enough to be retained by the company in the future, the "dividends" at the end of the year will not be the same as in the past.

It is worth pointing out that due to the current financial turmoil, customers do not want to do too much business, because the more they do, the more they will lose. Customers do not make transactions easily, and banks are also cautious and do not dare to trust customers easily. Without transactions, Neither the customer nor the bank makes any money. Some people on Wall Street are considering leaving New York and seeking development elsewhere. Most people are taking it one step at a time and have no long-term plans. They just hope that the situation will not continue to worsen next year. She said, for me personally, because I was mentally prepared for the current situation, I didn’t feel particularly painful. To a large extent, it can be said that almost everyone on Wall Street now has a certain degree of psychological preparation. Everyone understands that they may be laid off at any time, so they are also mentally prepared to leave at any time. There is no doubt that after layoffs, it will have a big impact on your life. Some expenditure items will have to be reduced. Expenses such as buying a car and vacation cannot be considered too much for the time being. You must be careful with all daily consumption and save what you can. save. Of course, it's not as if they are destitute, because Wall Streeters always have a certain amount of savings after working for a few years, and they will always receive certain financial subsidies from the company when they are laid off. Of course, Bank of America's subsidies for employees are very limited and not as generous as some other financial institutions.

3. Middle and senior management were also laid off

In an interview with reporters, Mr. Jacky, who had worked at Lehman Brothers for many years, told reporters that fortunately he was laid off early in August 2007. I left Lehman, otherwise things would be miserable now. He told reporters that the current financial situation faced by Wall Street is quite severe. After experiencing a series of turbulent waves, any slightest disturbance in the financial market will bring waves of panic and turmoil to people.

Jacky said that some of his old colleagues at Lehman were originally senior middle and senior management elites, but now they have suffered heavy losses. Jacky analyzed that for these middle and high-level managers, their losses include two aspects. On the one hand, the income of middle and high-level managers on Wall Street used to be very high. However, despite their glory, a large part of their income was 70- 80% of the awards were stock awards, not cash, and now as these companies are in deep financial crisis, their stocks have plummeted, leaving them with a huge loss, which is a disaster for many people. On the other hand, these middle and high-level managers, who are senior and junior, are often the focus of layoffs. This is because there are serious duplications in some management-level settings of the merged financial institutions. In order to reduce the company's Operating costs will inevitably lead to massive layoffs, and institutions that have fallen sharply will not be spared. In addition, new young people can quickly switch industries after being laid off, and the lives of these middle-aged people who have been on Wall Street for many years will be difficult in the future. Too bad.

Jacky analyzed that for young people who are new to Lehman, their loss is the loss of their jobs, so what they are most concerned about is whether they can keep their jobs. Lehman Corporation once had 12,000 to 15,000 employees, and now it has to lay off 5,000 people. The situation is very serious. Moreover, it is estimated that large-scale layoffs will occur on Wall Street after December. This is because, legally speaking, according to the U.S. bankruptcy law, all Lehman employees must be laid off, but in practice, Barclays, which acquired Lehman, signed a three-month agreement with Lehman The temporary contract will use this period of time to carry out the necessary integration and temporarily provide temporary positions for Lehman employees. Their salary will be paid on December 31 this year. Bank of America, which acquired Merrill Lynch, has also stated that it will try to reduce expenses, which also means a large number of layoffs. There is news that Merrill Lynch will lay off more than 10,000 people. Because for investment banking, its only cost is manpower and human brains. It does not require raw materials and other costs like other industrial sectors. All transactions in investment banks rely on relationships and make money through human activities.

Jacky analyzed that the Chinese employees on Wall Street may have a greater impact, because in the Chinese circle on Wall Street, there are very few people engaged in core business in the investment banking department, and most of them are in basic positions, such as analysts, data Processing, etc., this part of the job is where the most layoffs occurred during this storm.

According to people familiar with the matter, Lehman Brothers alone has more than 2,000 Chinese employees, some of whom also hold large amounts of company stock, and their assets were wiped out overnight. The financial crisis has even put some Chinese employees at risk of losing their legal immigration status. According to lawyers in the United States, more than 20 Chinese working on Wall Street asked questions about their identity via phone or email. However, Jacky analyzed that it cannot simply be said that Wall Street has racial discrimination when laying off employees. This is different from what has happened before. In the past, layoffs were done one by one, but now they will be laid off across entire departments. Duplicate departments will definitely be eliminated after the merger. Therefore, the scale of layoffs will be large and will have a vicious negative impact on New York society.

4. The financial crisis affects college graduates

When the reporter interviewed Steven Chen, Merrill Lynch’s executive director in charge of global related bond products, he told the reporter, Although Merrill Lynch retained its name and organization after being acquired, and its original business was still being carried out, people at the top and bottom were panicked, because in the future, it was not known who would be laid off one after another, and the current situation The financial crisis shattered the Wall Street dreams of college graduates. He said that in the past, top students who interned at Merrill Lynch usually realized their Wall Street dreams, but this year's students who intern at Merrill Lynch have not yet heard Merrill Lynch's call to sign a contract, and they may not have much hope for the future.

According to reports, a few years ago, when students from some prestigious universities graduated, regardless of their original majors, they decided to rush into Wall Street from "fusion". At the time, it was a no-brainer. At that time, the U.S. stock market was booming, and Wall Street was booming. Major banks were unquestionably popular at campus job fairs in the United States. The generous benefits and internship opportunities provided by big-name Wall Street companies were irresistible. The smartest people in the United States were This is how people entered the financial industry where “money” has a long way to go. Some lucky people interned at Lehman Brothers during the summer and successfully signed up as a financial analyst after the internship. In the introduction of printing-related majors at some prestigious universities, reporters still feel proud that their students can intern at major financial companies such as Lehman, Bear Stearns, and Merrill Lynch, and then work in Wall Street institutions after graduation.

However, the 2008 financial crisis on Wall Street changed these. The current situation is that it is difficult for students from prestigious schools to enter Wall Street. The financial crisis has dealt a heavy blow to the already weak U.S. job market. The financial sector has cut 100,000 positions this year, and headhunting companies estimate that Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch will add another 50,000 to this number. The financial crisis has also affected the employment of graduates from universities across the United States, especially those from famous universities. In the past, prestigious schools funneled graduates to prestigious financial companies such as Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns, such as MIT, where nearly one-third of graduates enter Wall Street jobs every year. But now, this proportion has shrunk by half, and financial giants like Goldman Sachs and Citigroup have even canceled campus recruitment plans. Ronald M. Schramm, a professor of finance at Columbia University Business School, told reporters that after this financial crisis, American students will re-examine their choice of finance majors carefully. For Chinese students, since they will return to China for development in the future, The problem is not too big, because China's financial industry still needs major development in the future.