Anger, relief, worry: Bear Stearns staff fear for jobs

HONG KONG/SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Stunned dealers and traders at Bear Stearns, the ailing U.S. investment bank rescued by rival JPMorgan Chase & Co, turned up for work on Monday to find the value of their stock options in tatters and the future of their jobs up in the air.

The fear of job losses among bankers, traders and other staff comes as Wall Street grapples with a deepening credit crisis and the threat of recession in the United States grips financial institutions.

Bear Stearns, roughly 30 percent-owned by its staff and proud of its above average level of inside ownership, employs 14,000.

JPMorgan is paying just $2 a share for the 85-year-old Bear, valuing the fifth-biggest U.S. investment bank at $236 million -- just one-fifteenth of its market value on Friday and way below its record share price of more than $172 last year.

"The valuation is virtually nothing, it is indeed rock bottom. We have tanked -- it's very, very sad. Everyone is in mourning," said a Singapore-based Bear Stearns employee.

The bailout punctuates an eight-month slide in Bear Stearn's fortunes as investors lost confidence in the Wall Street bank, the smallest of the major securities houses and one known as an aggressive trader in credit and mortgage markets.

"We've just been told we are JPMorgan employees. The valuation is obviously not that good -- they're paying just $2 a share, its effectively a wipe-out. A lot of people here own stock options," said a Bear Stearns trader in Hong Kong.

To add insult to injury, Bear Stearns does not offer payouts, known as 'golden parachutes', for executives in the event of it being taken over.

One Tokyo financial industry recruiter, who declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the issue, said he knew first-hand of Bear Stearns employees looking to jump ship.

"We're already seeing people looking at moves from within that organization," he said.

"In these situations people generally feel, or are concerned, as to whether they will have a job at all, and if they have a job, at what level they will retain it."

ANGRY BEAR

Although the takeover means JPMorgan adds Bear's prime brokerage and asset management business to its franchise, it is likely to sell other parts of the business and many jobs could go.

Compared with the United States and Europe, Bear Stearns' presence in Asia is limited, but there is some duplication with JP Morgan's business in the region, raising fears of lay-offs.

"There is some gloom -- because there are overlaps between JPMorgan's franchise and what we have here," the Hong Kong Bear Stearns trader added.

A spokesman for JPMorgan in Hong Kong said the bank was committed to long-term growth in the region.