At BKB which I was talking about I was the tech guy for the FX group. I reported directly to the CFO and sat on the trade desk with all the traders. one of my job was to shut off all their network and e-mail access about 30 mins before they were told they were being "made redundant" (lol couldn’t resist a “The Office” ref). This was really fucked up because al most all these people were my friends. About 30 of the 90 or so traders were fired. And then new traders from the new parent company moved into their place.
And at a bank in a department like FX when they fire you that is it, you are allowed to go get your personal stuff out of your desk with a security guard standing there and then are walked out the door right then. They can't risk you trying to get back at the bank by e-mailing clients, deleting files, etc. So that is why when they got back to their desk after getting the word the already had been completely cut off from the system.
Of course the next part is all the people left have to start working with the new people that moved into those positions from the other company, lots of resentment and awkwardness.
I agree, I have never heard of a “smooth” take over either. But again, I think banking mergers are among the roughest of all.
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