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What do you do when a company says “adios!” after one month on the job?

That’s just what happened to four equity analysts who were hired by WJB Capital in December and let go upon the firm’s closure in January, Bloomberg reports.

Last year, WJB Capital appeared to be weathering the Wall Street storm. But once the new year arrived, it was clear that the company could no longer go on. According to the Bloomberg report, the company was struggling with slower trading, a lack of capital, and interest rates as high as 25% on some of its debts.WJB Capital had incurred $8.17 million of subordinated debt; $1.35 million of that debt was due in December, Bloomberg said. Additionally, the company owed $3.5 million to executives that loaned WJB Capital money at interest rates as high as 15%.

WJB Capital told its employees – all 100 of them – about the closing on January 3, 2012.

Where will these men and women go now that their job has fallen victim to the ongoing crisis on Wall Street?

Bloomberg said that WJB Capital has non-brokerage operations and is exploring other possibilities. Whether or not that means that some of these employees will get to keep their job – or acquire a new one from their soon-to-be-former employer – remains to be seen.

More than likely, the majority of the men and women at WJB Capital will end up on the job search trail, along with the thousands of others who have already faced the wrath of Wall Street’s struggles. Whatever happens going forward, it’s important to remember that those within the financial community need to stick together. We created StreetID – a financial career matchmaking site with a growing community of financial professionals – for that very purpose. With StreetID, job seekers can sign up for a free account and make a direct connection with relevant candidates and employers.

About StreetID

StreetID is the first ever online career matchmaking and networking site, designed specifically for professionals and companies within the financial services industry. StreetID enables job seekers to create an online profile for free. This biographical data is then strategically sorted, thus enabling hiring managers to target only the best, most suitable candidates with the click of a mouse.

Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/finance-articles/hired-today-fired-tomorrow-5595962.html

Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA, one of Spain’s largest corporations dealing with retail banking, private banking and other services around the world, recently reduced its global markets staff in Asia, the Wall Street Journal reports.

As of December 2011, the company had eliminated 29 employees in three offices: Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore. According to the Wall Street Journal, this is Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA’s first cutback since it decided to expand in Asia five years ago. In 2007, the company purchased a stake in China Citic Bank Corp.

Overall, BBVA has reduced its workforce by 150 people, the Wall Street Journal said. This amounts to a 4% reduction in the company’s global personnel.

While the job loss might sound a bit small compared to the massive layoffs of other banks, the number is quite significant considering the growth that BBVA had been experiencing. The company now owns 15% of China Citic Bank, the seventh-largest bank (by assets) in China. Prior to this troubling development, BBVA had about 85 staff in Asia working for its global markets team, “including traders and structuring and related sales staff spanning the equities, fixed income and credit asset classes,” the Wall Street Journal reported.

When considering how few jobs BBVA had in Asia to begin with (85 employees), the job loss (29 employees) sounds exorbitant.

Where will these employees go next? That’s a question a lot of people in the financial community are asking, not just those in Asia. But there are no easy answers.

There is, however, a growing community of financial professionals that are here to lend a helping hand. They’ve been united by StreetID, a financial career matchmaking site. With StreetID, job seekers can sign up for a free account and make a direct connection with relevant candidates and employers.

About StreetID

StreetID is the first ever online career matchmaking and networking site, designed specifically for professionals and companies within the financial services industry. StreetID enables job seekers to create an online profile for free. This biographical data is then strategically sorted, thus enabling hiring managers to target only the best, most suitable candidates with the click of a mouse.

Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/finance-articles/not-even-asia-is-safe-from-wall-streets-wrath-5595972.html

There’s every chance that you have already heard of debt management plans. In the current economic climate and in our generation of credit consumers, such plans are becoming increasingly popular with families and individuals struggling to meet their monthly financial commitments. Most often, debt management plans are aimed at individuals with debts of between £2000 and £12000. The plans are not legally binding, unlike an IVA, which is often targeted at those with higher amounts of debt. They are, instead, an informal agreement between yourself and your creditors, often through a third part debt advice company. The debt advice company will often contact your creditors to try and negotiate a freeze on interest or charges and, in some cases, to even reduce the overall amount that you owe. You then make one monthly payment to the debt advice company, who split that as agreed between your creditors. They will often also take a small fee for doing so.

The major advantage of this type of agreement is simply its convenience. It makes meeting your monthly financial debt repayments much more manageable and affordable. It will, however, invariably show up on your credit record that you are enrolled in such a plan and this could potentially adversely affect your credit prospects.

However, before making a decision either way, it would be advisable to seek out professional advice either from financial advisors in the case of individuals, or from a business debtline in the case of small businesses. Many debt management plan providers will offer free and confidential advice from trained financial professionals.