Shake-up for brokers

Prebon Yamane in Singapore has been rocked by the resignation of more than 50 employees, who left in February to join rival company BGC. Could Prebon’s stranglehold on the broking market in Asia be at an end? By Joseph Radford

Intrigue, plotting and conspiracy are not words traditionally associated with Asia’s brokerage firms. But upheavals over the past few months have brought to light a series of behind-the-scenes manoeuvres that are set to shake up the Asian broker market.

The mass defection in late February of more than 50 of Prebon Yamane’s Singapore staff to rival company BGC, the broking arm of Cantor Fitzgerald, following hot on the heels of other examples of large-scale staff poachings, has rocked