Hays Banking - July 2010

Hotspots

Corporate Actions, Settlements and Trade Support are the primary hotspots. Trades have picked up and more headcounts are required to cope with the increased volume.

Settlement candidates with good derivatives product knowledge are currently in demand and will continue to be in the coming months with the migration of such roles to Singapore from London and Europe.

With continuing system changes and improvement initiatives, as well as merger and integration exercises, there is high demand for experienced Project Managers and Business Analysts with specific product knowledge.

Operational Risk and Compliance professionals with solid relevant experience in the region are in continued demand, especially at mid and senior levels, with the heightened state of regulatory and controls environment. Hiring managers are now considering candidates with mathematical qualifications as compared to conventional business degrees.

The coming quarter

There will be a lot of movement. As a result there will be a surge in contract roles as employers attempt to minimise the impact on daily operations while waiting for a new replacement. This indicates a vibrant banking environment and hiring managers would have to react quickly to keep up with the movements.

Executive recruitment

The demand for Senior Operations professionals has remained fairly constant, more for replacements rather than new positions created.

There is still a significant amount of recruitment in Middle Office at the Senior Executive level for Operational Risk, Credit Risk and Market Risk.

Employer trends

Employers prefer candidates with relevant local experience or exposure to Asia Pacific markets, particularly in terms of operations staff. This also applies to AVP and VP level positions which were typically filled by overseas talent due to a lack of technical expertise locally.

For Middle Office roles, particularly Product and Valuations Control, there is still a need to source experienced candidates from overseas mainly due to the lack of such talent in the local market.

Candidate trends

Many candidates are leaving their current roles without first securing a job as they are confident in securing a new role. These candidates are for urgent requirements, especially contract roles.