Sad news about Richard Stanley

Heard such shocking and saddening news this morning that the CEO of DBS, Richard Stanley, passed away this morning at 8:45am. It was really unexpected as recently, it was still reported that he was doing fine in his treatment. Things just suddenly turned bad yesterday when he got an infection. Sigh...

A lot of my friends were utterly shocked too when I told them about the news, asking me where I got the news from etc. Many of us were really hoping to see him back in action soon. Now, we can only pray for him and his family, pray that his family will have the strength to go through this tough period.

DBS jobs cut... Scary

I'm sure most of you, if not all, should have heard about the news now. DBS is going to cut 900 jobs in SG and HK. It was so scary when the news was announced. We could see that our CEO, Richard Stanley, was shaken and sad when he announced the news to us at The Rock. It was the first time that our quarterly briefing was done at The Rock, because they wanted to address all the staff in one place. Even our chairman was not his usual cheerful self, but was solemn and serious.

Am I worried? I'll be lying if I say I'm not. But at the same time, I'm just trying to hold on to the thought that they probably won't fire the new MAs. Then again, who's to know? Everything's so uncertain now in this current situation. I'm just praying hard. But at the same time, I'm still confident in DBS. Confident that it will ride through and survive this storm.

End of DBS MAP Campus Programme

Yesterday marked the end of the DBS Management Associates Programme (MAP) 2008 Campus Training. We had a graduation dinner at Hyatt Hotel, for which another female colleague, Ting Yun, and I were in charge of organising for.

Being the chairpersons, the HR actually placed Ting Yun and me at the same table with our CEO, Richard Stanley. At first the two of us were quite scared about it, but Richard turned out to a really nice guy who was very willing to talk to us casually. He didn't put on any "air" at all.

Two months came and went so fast. The whole graduation dinner was full of memories, laughter, and tears. We had various awards presented, performances, and photographs showing. I was involved in the dance performance, and it turned out quite well despite have little practice. Although I fell during a flip and injured my thumb, I still felt happy about having all the Management Associates (MAs) coming up to dance. And the MAs from Hong Kong put up a nice skit with modified songs. I actually won an official award presented by HR, and an unofficial award which the MAs came up with.

For the official award, there were three: Outstanding Team Player, based on the collected score on the Teamwork section of peer feedback forms from the MAs; Best Academic, based on the test scores; and Most Respected and Admired, based on everything combined. I won the Outstanding Team Player award, and my fellow chairperson won the other two awards, which I must say she really deserved it. She's a great person to work with. For the unofficial ones, we had the Most Entertaining MA, Most Generous MA, Most Energetic MA, and Mr and Miss Congeniality. I got the Mr Congeniality award! I'm really happy and surprised at both awards, as both are voted by the MAs. That really meant a lot to me.

Today was another teary session when we sent them off at the airport. Tears were flowing like opened taps. Mixed feelings filled everyone. We were seeing them off, meaning goodbye for a long long time. After the two months of bonding and friendship, it was really not easy. Even though they were returning home to reunite with their family and loved ones, they were leaving us, new friends. And Monday would mark a new beginning for many of us who would really start work for the first time.

Well... On the other hand, it also meant that my dear is coming back in 60 days. Finally will be able to see her soon!

Going back to GTS

I just received an email from the Management Associate Programme (MAP) manager of DBS. I've been given a placement in Global Transaction Services (GTS) as per my request. Actually, I requested for either GTS, or somewhere in Corporate and Investment Banking (CIB), with no preference of one over the other. But well, I think GTS is a good place to work in. I've been there before and I know that the people there are nice, and there's a lot of things to learn. Plus there's quite a bit of development area in the department, since the department has embarked on something new in the past year. Also, the department deals with the products, and supports the front end of not only the Singapore office, but also works with the offices of other countries.

For those of you who are lost in the terms, Global Transaction Services basically deal with transactional banking products. It's not a very front end job like the Relationship Managers (RMs), but it's also not that back-end as we go out with the RMs to meet the clients as well. There will be lots of things to learn, it won't be easy, but I do think the challenge is quite interesting. I hope I'll do well there.

DBS Moving

DBS is moving the HQ to Marina Bay Financial Centre in 5 years time. That would of course, mean that I'll be further away from where Gladys is working (SGH). And they are moving some units to Changi as well. I believe that they are moving the support functions to Changi. No reason for them to move the core banking groups to Changi. How are we supposed to meet customers if our offices are at Changi? If they really do move me to Changi, I think I'll switch to another bank. Haha.

http://www.dbs.com/newsroom/2007/press071212.html

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporebusinessnews/view/317063/1/.html