Australian derivatives trading firm Akuna Capital slashes 40% of APAC workforce

The prestigious Australian firm is laying off nearly half its Asia Pacific workforce, just months after another devastating redundancy round.

An Australian trading firm that pays uni graduates as much as $200,000 as a starting salary will slash 40 per cent of its Asia Pacific workforce.

News.com.au understands that Australian derivatives trader Akuna Capital is set to announce a devastating second round of lay-offs, just months after cutting 11 per cent of its global headcount in January.

Sources told news.com.au a company-wide Zoom meeting will be held on Friday where staff will discover if they still have a job at the end of it.

In total, 70 roles are slated for the chopping block across its Shanghai and Sydney offices.

Overall, this represents 40 per cent of its APAC staff base. That means two out of five employees will be let go.

The cuts are understood to be across the board, with junior to mid level technical roles bracing for the bad news. Traders as well as those in the business operations team and also software developers are expected to lose their jobs.

News.com.au contacted Akuna Capital for comment more than 24 hours ago but had not received a response by the time of publication.

Akuna Capital is set to sack 2 in 5 staff across the APAC region. move. Picture: Instagram

In January, Akuna Capital cut 11 per cent of its total workforce and also rescinded job offers at the 11th hour, leaving uni graduates fuming.

At the time, 64 people in Australia, the UK and US were made redundant out of its total 580 person global labour force.

Akuna intern Shawn Lee revealed in a LinkedIn post that it was a “complete shock” to have his job offer pulled just weeks before he was due to start at the company.

“It is with a deep sense of disappointment that I must announce that my return offer as a junior developer at Akuna … has been (sic) rescinded due to upcoming organisational changes at the company,” he wrote.

Staff were told the redundancies were made to cut costs, while Akuna’s chief operating officer Johnny Norris said the impact on staff members was “deeply regrettable”.

Sydneysider Andrew Killion launched Akuna Capital in 2011, after previously being a partner at rival firm Optiver.

Akuna Capital’s main headquarters have since moved to Chicago, which is considered the hub for derivatives and option traders, but it has offices around the world including in Sydney.

The name Akuna derives from the Australian Aboriginal word meaning “flowing water”.

The Sydney office.

Akuna had been one of the companies in Australia that offered some of the highest tech graduate salaries in the country, employing software engineer graduates on salaries of $200,000 before bonuses.

Other rival derivative trading firms have also been known to pay staggering wages to attract and retain talent.

In February, news.com.au reported that IMC Trading was paying 40 Australian graduates $200,000 to join the team.

Fellow trading firm Jane Street reportedly pays $350,000 while Amsterdam-based trading platform Optiver shells out $250,000 to new starters.

News.com.au previously reported Akuna Capital had recorded a $US1.4 million ($A2.05 million) profit from its Australian business in 2021, up from $US1.2 million ($A1.73 million) the year before, documents lodged with the Australian Securities Investment Commission revealed.

However, in 2019 it lost $US5.4 million ($A7.8 million) on its cryptocurrency assets and tech start-ups. Akuna had recently invested in e-bike company Zoomo which along with cryptocurrency lender Blockfi were also slashing jobs.

The Sydney and Shanghai offices are understood to be impacted.

A number of jobs in the finance sector have been lost in recent months as the economic downturn continues in Australia.

Consulting company Aurecon, which has 15 offices in Australia including in most capital cities and several cities in Queensland, cut 70 roles in March.

Management consulting firm McKinsey also announced earlier this year its intentions to terminate 1400 workers as demand dried up. Around 20 Australians were caught up in the lay-offs.

Tech consulting firm Accenture revealed it will slash 19,000 jobs including some in Australia.

Accenture’s cuts will impact 2.5 per cent of its global workforce as it anticipates lower demand for its services.

There’s also consulting giant KPMG, which will eliminate roughly 700 roles in the US, equivalent to two per cent of its overall headcount. About 200 KPMG jobs are expected to go in Australia.

Even the banks are not immune to the tough times.

Westpac slashed 300 roles earlier this month while CBA let go of 224 workers, according to the union.

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