INSURER AIA Singapore laid off about 20 employees from two of its divisions on Thursday as part of its efforts to trim fat.
The affected employees included chief marketing officer Lance Tay, who oversaw the Life Profit Centre (LPC), and Mr Stanz Tan, the head of LPC and AIA's vice-president.
Sources said that Thursday's cuts are unlikely to be the last among the 800-strong workforce. It is believed that there will be more job losses, either through retrenchment, re-deployment, outsourcing or natural attrition. There are no plans to reduce its life agency strength.
The axings come just six weeks after AIA's US parent AIG almost collapsed under the weight of massive liabilities.
It was bailed out by the US taxpayer to the tune of US$85 billion but the uncertainty affected operations here and sparked two days of panic with policyholders besieging the Singapore office demanding their money back.
The crisis raised the spectre of cost cutting among some staff here. One told The Straits Times on Friday: 'There are so many changes here. But when you work in a corporate, these things do happen and we just have to move on.'
