MF Global Holdings Ltd. fired 15 employees from its Japan unit before filing for bankruptcy Monday, said Kazuyuki Sugimoto, secretary general at the Federation of Foreign Bank Employees Union.
The analysts, traders and sales staff had their employment contracts terminated, Sugimoto said Tuesday. Workers from the New York-based securities firm's Japan unit joined the federation in September, he said.
"We are not able to comment on this," Clara Goh, MF Global's Singapore-based spokeswoman for Asia Pacific, wrote in an emailed reply to inquiries about the dismissals.
The Japanese unit, MF Global FXA Securities Ltd., has 53 employees, according to the Financial Services Agency. The FSA issued an order protecting the assets of the unit and instructed the firm to improve its business.
MF Global, the holding company for the broker-dealer run by former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Chairman Jon Corzine, listed debt of $39.7 billion and assets of $41 billion in Chapter 11 papers filed Monday.
The impact of the company's collapse on Japan's financial system will be negligible, financial services minister Shozaburo Jimi said.
MF Global FXA Securities has capital of ¥935 million, the FSA said.
Of the dismissed workers, 14 were based in Tokyo and one worked in Singapore, Sugimoto said.