Mainland securities firms, many of which expanded rapidly in the past few years, are being forced to follow their foreign competitors by tightening up on hiring and bonuses after a disappointing year.
Several first-tier major mainland securities houses, including China International Capital Corp (CICC), Shenyin Wanguo Securities and China Merchants Securities (CMS) issued bonus letters to their employees in Hong Kong and mainland China over the Lunar New Year holiday.
Many of the recipients were disappointed that the bonus was equal to just one or two months' salary.
That level was on par with the bonus payments some Wall Street banks, including JP Morgan and Bank of America Merrill Lynch, offered to most of their Hong Kong-based mid-level or junior employees this year, industry sources said.
Staff at CMS' Hong Kong office were even worse off.
After a year of aggressive hiring and expansion, including luring senior bankers from BOC International, the investment banking arm of Bank of China, most CMS employees did not receive a year-end bonus due mainly to weak business performance in 2012.
Now apparently even the rescuers are getting nervous and cautious about themselves