BRITISH banking giant Barclays is going full steam ahead with its plans to hire up to 1,500 highly skilled staff over the next few years in Singapore, undeterred by a credit crunch that has crushed thousands of jobs in the financial sector.

The high-end technical jobs will be located at Barclays' newly set-up technology centre in Singapore, which will support the group's retail and commercial banking businesses across the globe.

While the financial turmoil is expected to fester for at least another 18 months, Barclays sees this as 'a good time to expand', said Mr Frits Seegers, the chief executive of the bank's global retail and commercial banking.

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