Why are Banks retrenching staff?

All governments have a variety of economic objectives, such as full employment, economic growth and low inflation, which contributes towards, or are necessary to achieve, the ultimate economic objective of increased welfare and living standards.

A number of different types of economic policy can be used to achieve these objectives, including “monetary policy” and “fiscal policy” as any deliberate action undertaken by the government to achieve its economic objectives using the ‘fiscal’ instruments of taxation, government spending and the budget deficit. In much the same way, we can define monetary policy in terms of the deliberate action undertaken to achieve government’s objectives using ‘monetary instruments’, such as controls over bank lending and the rate of interest.

When CEOs of giant Banks are evaluated during yearly appraisals, their respective Banks are making such a huge quarterly profits plus liquidity ratios which Banks are supposed to maintain during the year under review. Nevertheless, not many CEOs are able to announce in their circular resolutions whether their respective Banks are retaining flamboyant number of staff or are hiding the numbers so as to complete the phrase of “no-retrenchments”.

Domestic businesses in Asia are slowing down due to economic uncertainties posed by the local currency devaluations against the greenback. This issue has made certain quarters who are earning a living working in the Banks and similar establishments to perceive the ‘profitability and liquidity’ of their Banks as a determining factor for staff retention. Many of the Banks’ staffs are asking for transfers to and from different Banks and competition among the Banks to retain the best cream of their staff are pushing the market values for the key officials skyrocketing as if inflationary effects have nothing to do with Consumer Price Index in their respective baskets of goods/ services. Quite a cynical point of view indeed.

The question here, internally, is the demand for money strengthening? Macro economics studies for the monetary policy instruments have sometimes been misconstrued as studying the demand and supply of money per se; speaking of which the liabilities and assets are divided into liquidity ratios which are making the Balance Sheets of different Banks have got different interpretations and assumptions to such an extent that the effectiveness of open market operations may not always be present at all times.

It is a weird situation when a Bank has got to find external funds to pay their staff and counter the effects of foreign currencies appreciation in their overseas investments. The net present values and internal rate of returns of all overseas projects are deemed to be projected and financed locally, but the margins are to be found elsewhere.

If you are the CEO of a giant Bank, how do you groom your best talented person(s) as your successor(s)?

The best smart-phone?

So many years gone by, the needs to purchase smartphones by many individuals have become the targets for technology seekers and hence the sellers to penetrate the market which dictate the highly demanded gadgets in hands.

Nothing can change the fact that every year, the competitive advantages of the companies producing the gadgets have created many job opportunities to many countries and the sources of income for importers and exporters globally.

Advantages in the use of the gadgets outweigh the blunders in using them. Without smart-phones, the blunders would become worse due to important messages cannot be communicated at the right time and that consumers  who are highly engrossed with the social networking media (instead of social media) to earn a living (especially those who are service-centred business communities who must have their handhelds 24-7) are at stake.

The above will inevitably become a nuisance if the smart-phones are found to be missing or the smart-phones themselves are experiencing slow-down period or malfunctions or hacked for various reasons by unknown or unscrupulous parties. Some telco companies are also in their research and development stage (R&D) in capturing large market shares (and thus inflows of income) in their drive to retain loyal customers and also to extend their clientele base.

Purchasers of smart-phones whether they are salaried people or business people have to accept that their use of smart-phones have become one of the distinctive factors in determining the programmes or softwares to be created for diverse groups of clients as such. High-end consumers need high-end smart-phones. Some of the rich and poor people are using smart-phones not based on their status in the society, but rather based on how well  (determined by their purchasing power) they can own or possess the smart-phones  either in the form of direct acquisition such as in outright purchase, easy-installment payments, leveraged-waiting-for-the-cheap-priced-phones-to-be-sold-by-desperate-consumers-due-to economic turmoil, or in the form of a gift (company’s party, birthday presents, lucky draws, some are found in public places).

Whenever we see a person holding any particular smart-phone (branded or otherwise), the first impression is that we basically ponder upon whether the smart-phone is owned by him/ her indefinitely or is it ‘descended’ from  someone who has got some hardship or pleasure in getting the phones at hand so to speak?

Not many purchasers are actually willing buyers in economic term;  the very need to purchase the smart-phone  is  such a neglected phrase so as to give way to the more aspiring term as found in a smart person’s smart-phone  generally.

Are you (and your smart-phone(s)) brilliant enough to counter the effects of diminishing income due to the risks of depreciation and downward (obsolete) technological factors of the gadgets?