The jobs may be safe for many traders who work under the lights of UBS AG”™s arena-scale trading floor in Stamford, but those gathered around water coolers in other company corridors may find the outlook dimmer.
UBS AG reportedly is planning 1,900 job cuts worldwide, following 7,000 cuts earlier this year. With more than 4,000 workers in Stamford, the Switzerland-based company is the third-largest corporate employer in Fairfield County after Stratford-based Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. and Fairfield-based General Electric Co., and the anchor of Stamford”™s still developing financial subsector in the shadows of Manhattan.
With those shadows seemingly growing longer by the hour in October, the ultimate impact on Stamford”™s finance cluster is still playing out. More than 60,000 square feet of office space emptied from downtown Stamford”™s best office buildings in the third quarter, and one official familiar with the city”™s development efforts said a large financial company in New York CityStamford of yet another trophy tenant. recently shelved plans to take a large block of office space, potentially depriving
While UBS”™ considers its high-tech trading floor in Stamford a centerpiece of its revenue platform, the company also has extensive space for other financial and administrative jobs that are comparatively exposed to the budget ax.
Royal Bank of Scotland says it is on track to complete a similar trading floor and office across the street from UBS in Stamford, and has not deviated from its previous plans to staff the building with more than 2,000 employees who currently work in Greenwich and New York City.
The RBS move would in turn open up a large office building on the Greenwich waterfront occupied by RBS Greenwich Capital, which developers plan to convert to multi-tenant use for hedge funds and other deep-pocketed firms.
General Electric Co. last month announced plans for “resizing” its GE Capital Corp. division, which is based in Norwalk, without immediately divulging specifics. And the county”™s sizable hedge fund sector was left exposed last month as some investors reportedly attempted to redeem investments in order to husband cash, and as the Securities and Exchange Commission banned some short selling in response to the market panic.
To date, Fairfield County and Connecticut have fared better than the United States during the downturn, but following the rapid-succession failures on Wall Street state policymakers predict that will change.
The state got a glimmer of good news last week, after Germany-based Allianz invested $2.5 billion to shore up the Hartford Financial Services Group Inc., after U.S. Sen. Harry Reid suggested another major insurance carrier was on the brink of failure following the bailout of American International Group Inc. The Allianz investment gave the Hartford”™s shares a 13 percent day-after boost, after having dropped nearly 70 percent this year.
The nation shed 159,000 jobs in September, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics; at deadline, Connecticut had yet to release state and county job estimates.
BLS estimated that financial companies jettisoned 17,000 jobs nationally between August and September, making finance the fourth hardest hit industry after manufacturing, retail and construction.
After Foxwoods Resort Casino halted construction on an expansion of its eastern ConnecticutConnecticut announced through the first nine months of the year, and the cuts included the job of Foxwoods CEO Patricia Irvin. destination and announced 700 layoffs. It was the largest layoff in
