Lehman Brothers IT staff will only survive a major cull if the
liquidators make quick sales of individual business units, industry
commentators said today.
However, the high quality of the investment bank's IT staff
should stand them in good stead in the job market after
the firm filed for bankruptcy in the latest shockwave to hit
the financial services industry.
The bank's business will be sold off to other banks - a process
that could take up to two months, according toTowergroup analyst
Ralph Silva.
"If the liquidators can sell lines of business relatively
quickly, there is a chance that some of the IT operations will
continue to live," Silva said. "If this does not happen, only about
one IT employee in every 100 will survive."
Lehman Brothers had
invested heavily in its IT staff.
"They are the cream of the crop and have a very good chance of
getting work with the companies," said Silva. "For example, it pays
its developers more than Microsoft pays its developers."
Robert Morgan, director at Hamilton Bailey, which advises IT
outsourcers, said that banks attracted the best IT workers because
they paid well.
"They are running fault-tolerant systems that recover quickly,"
he said.
Lehman Brothers will continue to run its IT systems while it is
in administration.
"There has to be a complete record of the business and a smaller
subset ot IT will continue for years to come," Morgan said.
He added that some assets and their IT would be sold by the
administrators in the next 12 to 36 months and the IT systems might
go to the acquirers. "A few key staff will remain but the bulk will
be lost."