Kuwait's Global, Kamco cut nearly 100 jobs

Dubai: Two of Kuwait's largest investment firms have cut nearly 100 jobs in cost-cutting measures, sources said yesterday, as they grapple with difficult market conditions.

Kuwait's Global Investment House has laid off 17 per cent of its staff, or 60 employees out of 350, across the region as part of cost-cutting measures at the debt-laden firm, two sources said yesterday.

Most of the job cuts at Global, which is in talks to restructure $1.7 billion (Dh6.2 billion) in debt, will be in Kuwait, one of the sources said.

Meanwhile, Kipco Asset Management Co (Kamco) has cut 39 positions out of a 120-strong workforce, two sources said. The departures include the head of asset management at the Kuwaiti firm. Kamco is a unit of the country's largest investment company, Kuwait Projects Co.

"The cuts have been pretty much across the board and no particular team or department has been spared," one source said in reference to Kamco. "There are some people who left before the redundancy plan.

"Obviously, the market conditions have not been helpful for most investment firms in the region and that has triggered the lay-offs."

A spokesman at Global declined to comment.

Kuwait is home to a large number of investment firms which were hard hit by the global financial crisis. That prompted the government of the world's fourth-largest oil exporter to approve a $5 billion rescue package in 2009.

In May, the country's central bank told investment firms they need to separate licences to operate their lending and investment businesses as it eliminates regulatory overlap with the market regulator.