Expat finance jobs in Asia to be chopped Asian financial hubs such as Singapore and Hong Kong have enjoyed buoyant trade, with many US and European banks and investment houses moving East to tap into the world's most populous region. There has been a corresponding shift of bankers, asset managers and financial services staff also heading to Asia to take up thousands of new positions. However, many of these newly-created positions are now beginning to disappear as operations are scaled back, mainly among European and US banks. Where blank cheques were once written for such Asian expansion, these banks can no longer afford to carry on such operations due to funding problems in their domestic markets. HSBC this week announced it was cutting 100 jobs in Singapore as part of its restructuring plans. In total 30,000 jobs will be cut by the bank, which is listed in both London and Hong Kong. Citibank has also recently shed staff in Singapore and plans to axe 4,500 jobs globally as part of a cost-cutting measure. Australia's ANZ bank has said it would be cutting about 1,000 jobs across the globe. Annabel Stone, who works for a recruitment firm in Asia, said: "There was a time when we were placing candidates in jobs very easily even if they didn't have the required experience, then banks became more selective as cost pressures hit. Now we are finding a real slowdown in openings, with some shedding staff or announcing job freezes. However, she added: "I don't think will be a permanent downturn for job opportunities as Asia is expanding rapidly and banks play a key role in that. But some of these roles may need to be located outside the expat-friendly cities of Hong Kong and Singapore as costs of living and labour rise. Government-owned Royal Bank of Scotland is also divesting its Asian assets. This week it announced it is to sell its Asia Pacific cash equities and investment banking business to Malaysian bank CIMB. RBS said it will shut some operations in South Korea, Indonesia and Singapore after failing to find buyers for these units.