Hong Kong layoffs in line with South-east Asia strategy: YouTrip CEO

YOUTRIP'S layoff of 10 employees in Hong Kong - a third of its workforce there - is part of its efforts to "double down" on South-east Asia, said the startup's chief executive Caecilia Chu.

The fintech startup retrenched the Hong Kong employees last week, as it moves critical roles to Singapore instead, news outlet Tech in Asia reported.

Responding to this, Ms Chu said: "In line with this business plan, we have had to make the tough decision to strengthen our Singapore office as our regional headquarters, housing the leadership team and all our critical functions under one roof. This has inevitably led to the restructuring of the teams and roles in Hong Kong."

She added that the impacted employees have been provided with outplacement support and referrals as well as severance as per employment terms and local regulations.

Asked about talk of high turnover in the Singapore office, Ms Chu said that there have been less than 10 voluntary departures in the last quarter of 2020. She added that many moved on to new career opportunities after two to three years with YouTrip.

As mass travel remains halted, YouTrip is pivoting to e-commerce and B2B payments, adding 50 roles in Singapore for product development and engineering. It is also setting up an innovation lab in the city-state.

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Ms Chu said that she does not foresee the layoffs to impact growth plans. "Our hiring and development efforts have already gained traction, and we will continue to expand our company's workforce to drive our next phase of business growth out of our Singapore headquarters and to grow our strength in cross-border payments within South-east Asia," she said.