This market report reflects the hiring trends in Hong Kong, China, and Singapore with a specific market focus on Accounting, Finance and Operations, Front Office, and Corporate Governance. During 2020/2021, the recent Financial Service trends for the APAC regions are:
Hiring activities generally have started to pick up during Q2, expecting to continue to increase further as the year goes on. The market has shifted from a client-led market back to a candidate-led, meaning candidates now have more options than before and less competition.
Candidate trends have seen a shift, with workplace flexibility being expected and remote working essential offering. There is increasing importance on Diversity & Inclusion in talent attraction and retention.
In Financial Services, virtual banking and Insurtech contributed more than 250 mid-bank office jobs in Q1. However, there has been increasing pressure to consider internal transfer before external hiring, especially for Director level or above. For Front Office and Corporate Governance roles, it looks like demand will remain steady throughout 2021 opening up new opportunities.
In this document we outline recent trends by market, highlighting the key market insights and salary expectations.
ACCOUNTING, FINANCE, AND OPERATIONS
Ahead of the creation of this report, our teams surveyed candidates and 73% of those interviewed by Hamlyn Williams over April 2021 expressed concern when looking for work due to market uncertainty. Our research and data analysis indicates hiring is improving, especially when compared to 2020, and we have seen a 37% increase of A&F job flows.
- The trend towards offshoring and other initiatives to save costs have impacted this group.
- Pressure for regulators have increased the need for related hires.
- We have also seen salary expectations stablise and candidates are looking for benefits, such as flexible working.
FRONT OFFICE
The outlook for hiring into Front Office vacancies in Hong Kong is looking more positive.
- 85% of Front Office candidates interviewed by Hamlyn Williams over April 2021 stated they are optimistic about job opportunities in 2021.
COMPLIANCE
Within Banking, restructuring has lead to redundancies and instability. The labour market is active as a result, this is also impacted by the influx of Chinese corporate banks to the Hong Kong market, who are expanding their compliance teams. Changing regulations, or rather pressure from regulators has means AML professionals and compliance teams have generally remained competitive.
Within Asset Management and Securities Brokerages, there have been more buy-side opportunities in the market and as firms look to bring legal counsel and compliance managers in-house instead of outsourcing this work to consultancy firms. More cryptocurrency and virtual asset firms are beginning to join the Hong Kong market and hiring senior compliance professionals.
Get in touch.
If you have any questions on the Asia Financial Services market then please do contact us.
You can search our live vacancies via our job search page, we also recommend that you register as a candidate so that you receive regular job updates.
For a full explanation of the above, plus many more insights and a salary guide, you can request the Report from Stephanie Lui, s.lui@hamlynwilliams.com.
