Growth in Hong Kong banking jobs set to continue

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority announced in August that it will be putting greater effort into promoting the city's fund and wealth management industry over the next five years. This initiative will underpin Hong Kong’s reputation as a global financial centre and boost job opportunities in the banking sector.

We are already seeing many job opportunities in fund and wealth management. On the sell side, the continuing move towards electronic and algorithmic trading has meant that Quantitative Analysts with strong programming skills are in demand. On the buy side, the fund universe continues to diversify and both international and regional companies are increasingly turning to quantitatively driven strategies in the hope of maximising returns in uncertain markets.

While investment banking remains volatile, banks are refocusing their resources on growing their corporate banking business where there is a steady stream of income. Experienced Corporate Banking Relationship Managers are in demand, especially those able to bring onboard new clients to immediately impact revenue growth. Cross-selling and a focus on product lines will be a priority for most banks. Local Corporate and China Corporate Relationship Managers are in highest demand.

Increased business flow resulting from the addition of Local Corporate and China Corporate Relationship Managers has created the need for experienced Commercial Banking Credit Approvers to join the banks to review and approve transactions. As a result of banks' limited appetite for credit, Approvers will play an important role in balancing the risk and reward for bank portfolios.  

Due to the increment of cross border M&A activities, Mandarin-speaking M&A Bankers are highly sought after. Bankers are often required to write a pitch book in Chinese for these M&A transactions, or even negotiate deals with Chinese clients in Chinese.

In the last few years there has been a tremendous growth in wealth within the Greater China region. To illustrate this, China has recently overtaken Japan as the number two country with the most millionaires in the world. Private banks are competing harder than ever to recruit Private Bank Relationship Managers as they aim to capture this newly created wealth in the region.

Experienced professionals in compliance and anti-money laundering are in very strong demand at the moment. AML/KYC/FATCA Managers who have a strong track record and up-to-date regulatory know-how, such as FATCA, Dodd Frank, EMIR, and MiFID2, are the most highly regarded. Experienced candidates with expertise in front office and middle office compliance are in demand as the compliance function continues to shift towards middle office, and in some cases, even straight onto the trading floor.

As most banks are rolling out their regulatory change programmes, Compliance Change Programme Managers are in demand at the moment. There has been significant hiring activity across the 'bulge bracket' banks. The mix of PM and compliance endows these roles with more dynamism, so candidates with very strong interpersonal skills and relevant PM and compliance experience (especially AML Advisory) are in strong demand.

Finally, candidates at VP/Director level are being offered very enticing packages due to the current shortage of Private Wealth Management Compliance professionals. We have noticed that even buy-side candidates are willing to switch back to sell-side when offered the right conditions.