BEAR STEARNS'S 150 staff in Ireland face an uncertain future following the collapse of their US parent and its cut-price takeover by rival JPMorgan Chase.

Bear Stearns established a base in Dublin in 1997 and operates two affiliates here.

Bear Stearns Bank plc provides asset management and custody and trustee advice to a range of funds domiciled in Ireland. It also acts as a "broker and dealer in financial instruments", according to its accounts.

Bear Stearns Dublin Development Centre provides IT support to companies within the group.

Latest accounts for Bear Stearns Ireland Ltd, the holding company for its Irish operations, show it made a pretax profit of $30 million (€19 million) in the year to the end of November 2006. This was down 24 per cent on the previous year. Turnover was $6 million, up 20 per cent on 2005, while interest income rose to $179 million from $100 million.

Bear Stearns had assets under management here of $7.5 billion in November 2006.

The accounts show that it made a dealing loss of $270,000 in 2006, compared with a profit of $19.1 million the previous year.

Shareholders' funds here stood at $387 million at the end of 2006, more than JPMorgan is paying to acquire the bank.

In the directors' report, the "major risks" associated with its business were listed as "market risk, liquidity risk and credit risk".

Its wages and pensions costs in Ireland were $13.2 million in 2006, when it employed 105 staff. It had three Irish-based directors: Niamh Walsh, Liam McNamara and Dara Quinn.