Yet Another Part of Life's Journey

Monday, January 28, 2008

Interesting Read for Potential Bankers

An Article from the Financial Times...

Financial Times ( London , England )

January 15, 2008 Tuesday
London Edition 1

Cool reception for Asia 's gay workers Homosexual employees face discrimination across the region but global investment banks are at the forefront of change, writes Raphael Minder

BYLINE: By RAPHAEL MINDER

SECTION: BUSINESS LIFE; Pg. 18

LENGTH: 1079 words

Lehman Brothers, the US investment bank, recently held
an unusual recruitment event at Hong Kong university.
Lehman's invitation was specifically aimed at
gay and lesbian students who aspire to be bankers.

Encouraged by the success of the presentation and buffet dinner for 50 students,
Lehman is planning to extend its initiatives
targeting the gay community this year.
It will include the bank's first pro-gay activities in Singapore,
the city-state that has become one of Asia 's leading financial centres
but where sex between men is illegal.

Lehman Brothers is not the only bank seeking
to recruit from Asia 's gay community.
Such is the enthusiasm among investment banks that
some have banded together to give their Asian events a higher profile,
taking it in turn to organise lectures, dinners and other events
around a gay or lesbian theme.
In November, Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs, Lehman,
Merrill Lynch and UBS co-sponsored a cinema evening in Hong Kong
which featured The Bubble , a 2006 film about the gay relationship
between a Palestinian and an Israeli soldier.

Investment banks' efforts to recruit more gays and lesbians
is partly an attempt to attract the most talented employees.
At a time when Asia has become the world's biggest region
for deals such as initial public offerings, investment banks
are struggling to fill the new positions on offer.
And the intense hiring competition makes it crucial
to ensure talented gay people are not deterred from applying
because of a combination of Asian intolerance and
western macho behaviour on trading floors.

Cheryl de Souza, Lehman's Asia director of diversity and inclusion, says:
"Walking across some of the floors in Hong Kong ,
you will find that we now have people who feel comfortable
about having a picture of their (same-sex) partner on their desk
and that's huge in terms of progress."

Furthermore, banks are increasingly committed to corporate social responsibility
and best practice, which also helps explain why
some US executives argue that they are ahead of their peers
in pushing for sexual diversity.
Christopher Jackson, a senior vice-president for Lehman in Tokyo , says:
"The way we're tackling this in Asia certainly emanates to some extent
from the fact that we're a US firm based in New York ."

What Lehman and some other investment banks are trying
to achieve in Singapore and other parts in Asia
runs counter to the region's cultural and legal environment.
Homosexual people are broadly accepted in some countries,
notably Thailand , the Philippines and Hong Kong ,
where gay sex was only decriminalised in 1991.
But in most of Asia , gay people still face discrimination and censure -
both in and out of the workplace - amid a blend of religious intolerance,
family conservatism and legal bans,
often inherited directly from British colonial rule.
For instance gay sex is a criminal offence across the Indian subcontinent.

In Malaysia , a Muslim country where sodomy is a crime,
police in November broke up a gay sex party in a fitness club on Penang
and arrested 37 men aged between 20 and 45.
The evidence gathered against them included used condoms found on the floor
as well as six boxes of new condoms - which in many countries
would probably be construed as a sign of responsible sexual behaviour.

Richard Welford, a director of CSR Asia,
a consultancy focused on corporate social responsibility,
says: "In the vast majority of cases in Asia ,
gays and lesbians have to stay hidden. S
ometimes they will even make up boyfriends or girlfriends . . .
But it does seem that in some sectors such as investment banking,
businesses are taking the lead (in improving the situation for gay people).
You could say that they are ahead of Asian society there."

This has not been the case in Asian retail banking.
Unlike retail banks that have countrywide branch networks,
investment banks are also in a better position to push for change
because they generally operate only in a country's biggest city,
where the population is usually most diverse and
conservative attitudes are less entrenched than
in second-tier cities and more remote Asian manufacturing centres.

The international dimension of investment banking
is also forcing employers to confront the issue of homosexual discrimination
more regularly than their counterparts in retail banking
and other more local institutions.
A recurring problem is the difficulty of getting investment bankers
to relocate to countries that do not offer dependent visas for same-sex partners.

Still, the jurisprudence governing homosexuality is not necessarily the best guide as to where gay people will find it easiest to work in the Asia-Pacific region, according to some executives who gathered at a recent evening party of Fruits in Suits, an association that holds monthly events in Hong Kong .

Some even contrast life in Sydney ,
where the Mardi Gras celebration
is one of the world's biggest annual gay events,
with the macho working environment
within parts of the Australian financial services industry,
which one banker says is "a lot behind the curve".

India offers another intriguing situation,
according to Stephen Golden, a vice-president at Goldman Sachs,
who helps co-ordinate the bank's global leadership and diversity programme.
He says: " India is one of those places
where the laws relating to homosexuality haven't changed
but society has. We have had employees who are openly gay
and have been asked to transfer to India and
have gone there without any issues.
They understand the cultural environment
and have had very good experiences. "

On the flip side stands South Korea ,
where there is no legislation banning gay sex
but where gay people say they cannot be open about their sexuality
for fear of being treated as social pariahs.
Kay McArdle, who heads Goldman's diversity programme
in Asia excluding Japan , describes Seoul as
"the least diverse office we have in Asia ".

Still, she finds reason for optimism
in the current staffing problems that Korean firms are confronting.
Recognition that there is a dearth of women in the workplace
should eventually translate into broader improvements
for gay people and others who struggle to gain acceptance
in the Korean workplace, she argues.
"The Korean government has recently been doing
a huge push on getting women back into the workforce
as many employers face acute staff shortages."
Ms McArdle says. "They are getting up the curve, slowly but surely.
And that is good news for diversity in general."

............

This article kinda re-affirmed my interest in entering the banking sector..

Guess now the issue is whether I am talented enough =)

yet another day of memories...
1/28/2008 02:28:00 AM

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Photos!

Tah-dah...
After realizing that Flickr ain that good
Cos free accounts can only show 200 pics..

I started looking around..
It was quite scary initially,
Cuz i thought other than the 200 showing,
The rest were all gone..
Thankfully no they weren't,
Just that there is no way of accessing them at all
Unless you delete the existing 200.

If you ask me,
I feel that this idea is rather crappy..
What is the point of storing the photos online
If you cannot look at them when you want to?

So anyway.. nvm, I found Snapfish
And though u need to have an id before you can access
I think it's the easiest around..
So if you click my photo link
It will now be a snapfish link

Let me know if it doesnt work =)
I will send you an invite then.

I had great fun these few days migrating all my photos over
Boy did i feel nostalgic over some pics..
Like the yrmateys ones & those of my family.

Anyway, pics of my vietnam trip are also up..
So for those interested..
Just try the link

Holler if it works..
So i know that my meagre skills are sufficient =)

yet another day of memories...
1/22/2008 06:54:00 PM

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

First Post of 2008

It's like the 3rd week of 2008,
But I have yet to blog
Cuz the start of the year has been a mad rush.

First was the rush to clear things before my Vietnam trip
Then was the rush to settle the outstanding stuff when I returned
To sell my books, prepare the notes, return tons of SMS etc
Thereafter I had to clean my room for the pending CNY

Now I am proud to say,
things are finally settling down!
I am getting a proper breather =]

Things are looking up:
I have finished my CNY clothes shopping,
My room is clean (really really clean)
My notes are done
And I am ready to start studying again

Am all ready for the future.
Was approached for something big a few days back
And I guess that is like the biggest decision
I had to make this year so far.

Been thinking about it,
And praying - both generally and specifically
Hopefully can get the peace I need
for the decision outcome by tonight
And reply the person asap.
Not nice to dangle it too..

Yep, may things become clearer for me..
Hopefully the weather will clear up soon too!
(It may sound random, but yes, I am sick of rain!)

yet another day of memories...
1/16/2008 01:21:00 PM

An Instrument of Peace
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love.
Where there is injury, pardon.
Where there is doubt, faith.
Where there is despair, hope.
Where there is darkness, light.
Where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master, grant me that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
To be understood as to understand;
To be loved as to love;

For it is in giving that we receive,
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

(Attributed to St Francis of Assisi )