Some coincidence this had an email from a headhunter for a hot position in Singapore. Pvt message me if anyone interested.

Hi,I was surprized to learn that there's so much interest in Singapore. Unemployment has hit 5% here and may get worse. And many of those laid off are from the financial sector....thanks to consolidation of the banks and the poor economy. Actually, I was planning to look at Europe or the US.....but changed my mind after reading this forum.Someone mentioned that we were in recession in 1996? But 1996 was boom time....almost everything was at its peak!BTW, there isn't much opportunity for quants in Singapore.....still a very new field here.Singaporean

About Hong Kong, I heard from several people who have been there that it is a quite regented country. In terms of interdiction. I am generally sceptic about people's sayings and I think that it is not that painful to live there and not to use chewing gum in the subway.How is it ?thanks

QuoteOriginally posted by: greghmAbout Hong Kong, I heard from several people who have been there that it is a quite regented country. In terms of interdiction. I am generally sceptic about people's sayings and I think that it is not that painful to live there and not to use chewing gum in the subway.You might be confusing stories of Singapore with Hong Kong. Singapore is a clean pleasant city and a bit laid back compared to the hustle and bustle of Hong Kong. But, it is Singapore that is strict about things like chewing gum, spitting on the sidewalk, and littering. Some people dislike the rules in Singapore. Personally, I think Singapore is a lovely city. The rules are largely transparent to me - with the possible exception of the annoying buzzing sound that I endure all the way in from the airport as I encourage my taxi driver to step on the gas and exceed the speed limit!

I actually moved to Singapore straight after university. Singapore is very good about foreigners getting work here. Basically when you arrive at the airport you are stamped with a 1 month "social visit pass". You then cruise on over to the "Contact Singapore" office (do a google on it), show them evidence of your university qualifications and you can get your social visit pass extended to 6 months in order to look for work. If money is tight, you rent a room in a HDB (public housing) flat (85% of the population live in these apartments which are generally perfectly clean and civilised places to live) for around S$90 per week while you do the rounds looking for work. Food at the "hawker centres" is very cheap at around S$3 for a plate of noodles. Transportation costs are also very reasonable.I came in early 2000 when the economy was still growing at 10% and it was quite easy to get a job. The economy has slowed right down now and jobs aren't turing over as quickly as they used to. Some investment houses have consolidated their offices in Asia to Hong Kong or Japan, so the place isn't great as it used to be. Singapore is very attached to the US economy, so depending on your view on the US outlook things are either going to stagnate for a while longer or pick up rapidly. I still have faith in the Singapore economy though for providing opportunities in the future given the low taxes here.I can't speak for Hong Kong or Japan, since I have never tried working there, although I would like to work in Tokyo some time in the not too distant future.

Quote<hr><i>Originally posted by: <b>MrQwerty</b></i>I actually moved to Singapore straight after university. Singapore is very good about foreigners getting work here. Basically when you arrive at the airport you are stamped with a 1 month "social visit pass". You then cruise on over to the "Contact Singapore" office (do a google on it), show them evidence of your university qualifications and you can get your social visit pass extended to 6 months in order to look for work. If money is tight, you rent a room in a HDB (public housing) flat (85% of the population live in these apartments which are generally perfectly clean and civilised places to live) for around S$90 per week while you do the rounds looking for work. Food at the "hawker centres" is very cheap at around S$3 for a plate of noodles. Transportation costs are also very reasonableI thought thanks to the tight controls if you were a expat bachelor you couldn't rent a full apartment from HDB you could only share an HDB apartment , maybe things have since changed?. There is another issue though with the emergence of KL as an alternative port many trading firms have been moving there to setup shop.

KL(Kuala Lumpur) is a great town. Great people(always smiling) and really much more fun than Singapore(less sterile). I spent a brief amount of time there and would love to go back if their markets ever get "real" and "liquid."

How would an American MFE student go about finding a trading-related summer internship in Singapore (if it is at all possible)?

Limited prop trading positions (foreign futures, equity, bonds etc) in Singapore. If you want to do that, you'll have to trade retail and figure it out yourself. More market making opportunities in FX, options, treasury function, corp finance, fund management ("unit trusts"). There are exceptions. You could try Philips Securities and UBS Warburg. Think they are currently looking for trainees for quant prop trading.

You can rent a room in any HDB flat but you are not supposed to rent the whole flat unless the landlord has been given permission to do so by HDB. It's easy to find a place to rent these days, given the weak rental market here. Rental rates of private apartments have dropped tremendously in the past couple of years.

What about Shangaï, is there any growing opportunities there ?

hey vengeance,can you personal message me more about the opening in UBSW? how did you hear abt it?

Shanghai and Beijing are not places you would probably want to consider as a new quant going in or if you're looking for internships that kind of thing. The big IB's in Beijing and Shanghai have operations which are very small imo, and the language is a must at the moment. Hong Kong is not as bustling as many still think and having lived there most my life i would say that it's gone down quite a bit but there are still jobs in the big firms at the moment. Hook up with a recruitment co. and you would probably have some luck.. A couple of guys i know just got overseas interviews in new york for HK based positions within IBD and capital markets, so i guess things aren't totally dead.... yet...in my opinion, immigration is a lot easier in Asia than it is to lets say Europe...

Quote______________________________________________________________________________________Limited prop trading positions (foreign futures, equity, bonds etc) in Singapore. If you want to do that, you'll have to trade retail and figure it out yourself. More market making opportunities in FX, options, treasury function, corp finance, fund management ("unit trusts"). There are exceptions. You could try Philips Securities and UBS Warburg. Think they are currently looking for trainees for quant prop trading.______________________________________________________________________________________Hi vengeanceI am interested in this trainees quant prop trading. Can you give me some details via private msg? ThanksKeris