eFinancial Careers recently invited our Head of Insurance, Gary Wong, to a round table discussion around the topic of current mid year challenges within Asian Financial Services. Here is their published report:

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The big mid-year challenges facing recruiters in Singapore and Hong Kong

HWhat is the job market really like for recruiters operating in Asian financial services at the mid-way point of 2022? And what major trends should staffing agencies look out for as they plan their hiring strategies for the rest of the year?

In the latest in our regular series of round tables for recruiters in Hong Kong and Singapore, eFinancialCareers brought together senior representatives from six leading recruitment firms to discuss these questions and more. We were delighted to welcome ConnectedGroup, ConnectedGroup, Ethos BeathChapman, The Meyer Consulting Group, Morgan McKinley, and Pinpoint Asia to our July round table.

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This exclusive report takes a deep dive into the main topics at the round table and arranges them into five core categories, including compensation trends and international talent.

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1.State of the job market

Recruitment in Hong Kong is still strong, but down on Q1



“The job market is still very much candidate led – demand for talent outstrips supply – but not as much as in 2021 or early this year. The slowdown in crypto has dampened demand a little bit,” said a Hong Kong-based round table delegate. “Last year was great for recruitment agencies in Hong Kong, but during the fifth Covid wave this year, we’ve seen hiring being slowed down slightly,” added another recruiter, who like his counterparts asked not to be named in this report.

There’s a “serious lack” of talent available in Singapore

“Demand from clients has been off the charts for the first six months, with lot of job opportunities and a serious lack of talent,” said a Singaporean round table attendee. “There are fears about macroeconomic pressures, but we still haven’t seen a direct impact on the local job market. This could happen in Q4 or early next year, but there’s also hope that Singapore won’t be as impacted by any recession as the US or Europe, and that organisations moving talent from Hong Kong to Singapore will also help protect us,” she added.

Candidates in Asia are still confident about moving, for now

“I don’t see too many candidates who aren’t open to moving purely because of the economic situation; it’s still all about the final job offer" said a Hong Kong headhunter at the eFinancialCareers round table. “I also don’t see much hesitation from candidates due to the macroeconomic outlook. Perhaps they should be hesitant, but most are still quite optimistic,” added a Singapore-based panellist.

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2.Compensation

Pay rises remain strong in tech and wealth

Chronic talent shortages in wealth management and technology mean that candidates in these job sectors routinely receive 30%-plus pay rises, no matter which financial institution they’re joining. For other roles, while pay-inflation pressure still exists, different firms are responding to it in different ways. Some are still “almost paying anything” to secure good talent, while others have capped salary rises to around 20% this year to avoid new recruits earning substantially more than current staff, a delegate told the round table. “As recruiters we’re now having to navigate both worlds at the moment,” he added.

​Counter offers are “crazy” and often include non-monetary incentives

In a sure sign that the job market remains weighted in favour of candidates for now, the recruiters said they are still plagued by counter offers. One headhunter said a candidate recently received a 40% counter – the largest he’s come across in his career. Another said people are being “begged to stay”, for example with regional roles, additional portfolios, accelerated career trajectories, and more responsibilities. A third attendee said she lost two candidates to counter offers in June. “It’s not really about the base salary. It’s now got really common for counters to include a crazy amount of stock to lock people in. Organisations are being very aggressive in retaining people,” she said.

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​3.International talent

Reducing quarantine times hasn’t enticed more overseas candidates to Hong Kong

Hong Kong reduced its quarantine period for travellers from 14 to seven days earlier this year, but this hasn’t affected the supply of foreign talent, according to HK-based round table attendees. “Whenever we want to hire from outside Hong Kong, we still face strong difficulties because of quarantine,” said one panellist. “Clients are open to candidates from overseas, but incoming talent to Hong Kong is very minimal. The whole process to get them over here is challenging,” added another.

Employment Passes are getting marginally easier to obtain in Singapore

Singapore-based attendees said it has become slightly more straightforward to obtain Employment Passes for foreign candidates. “We see more EPs being approved now, and it’s taking an average of four to six weeks, which is great. Another good sign is that we’re getting EPs for our contracting staff as well,” said a recruiter. One round table delegate said while the Ministry of Manpower (MoM) has become “more relaxed with EPs”, this is in comparison to its very strict stance in 2021. Employers still need a “strong justification” to import talent, and she has even seen an MD-level candidate being rejected for an EP recently.

But the real test for overseas talent will come next year

One recruiter said all her EP candidates have been placed into the three domestic Singaporean banks this year. “EPs are quite bank specific. The local banks have no problems getting them, probably because their base of local employees is already bigger, but there are issues for certain foreign banks,” she explained. Banks who employ comparatively low rates of Singaporeans will be further placed under the MoM spotlight in September next year when the points-based COMPASS immigration framework comes into force and their level of Singaporean employment becomes an official factor in all EP applications. This will be the “true test” of the Republic’s approach to global talent and will put banks “at the mercy of their own HR track records”.

​The drip of jobs from Hong Kong to Singapore has begun

The panellist have, predictably, seen a year-on-year uptick in enquiries from Hong Kong-based candidates about jobs in Singapore, with much of this coming from Western expats. Hongkongers who want to relocate largely target Western countries. While the increase in Singapore EP approvals (see above) hasn’t been substantial enough to set all these job moves in motion, some are starting to take place. “We’ve seen some banks quietly shift HK roles to Singapore, but they’re not open about this – they don’t want to annoy either government,” said a recruiter. Another attendee added: “Some of our clients are more flexible in terms of location. If the job was historically in Hong Kong, it could now be based in Singapore, depending on the candidate.”

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4. Job sectors

China-desk relationship managers are in demand, even in Singapore

Nearly all banks are hiring relationship managers – from retail banking to the ultra-high-net-worth segment – but Mandarin-speaking RMs with strong mainland client networks are particularly sought after, and not just in Hong Kong. Recruiters have seen a surge in demand for China-desk RMs in Singapore thanks to an influx of Chinese wealth, including family offices, into the city state. “A market head in private banking in Singapore just told me that he’s interested in hiring RMs from Hong Kong to come to Singapore and serve mainland clients,” said a front-office headhunter.

Recruiters are searching across industries to find data specialists

Several recruiters at the round table highlighted serious talent shortages in data analytics and other data related roles. “Data is a big driver in the job market but it’s tough to find people,” said a tech-focused recruiter. “We advise our financial services clients to be more open minded and to look at data candidates who have experience dealing with large data sets in sectors outside of financial services, like telecommunications or even retail.”

Crypto hiring has crashed in Asia

It’s not just the US and Europe that suffered from job losses and hiring freezes in the crypto sector in Q2. “It’s been horrible in Hong Kong too, with quite large redundancies from some of the leading crypto firms,” said one round table delegate. “The sentiment is definitely similar here in Singapore – hiring is far more cautious now in crypto,” added another panellist.

But recruiters are waiting to cash in on a crypto bounce-back

“Most top managers in crypto have a strong belief in the sector, and we’ll be waiting to service their hiring needs after the bear market. This could be by the end of the year, but nobody knows for sure,” a recruiter told the eFinancialCareers round table. “It’s not all doom and gloom – some of the crypto market makers stand to gain from the volatility and a few firms, like Binance, are still hiring,” said another delegate.

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5. Recruitment industry trends

Some candidates are demanding complete flexibility with working arrangements

In a candidate-driven market in financial services, some job seekers are pushing back on roles that offer flexibility, but only on the employer’s terms. One delegate said a candidate rejected a job that came with a mandatory two days in the office. “It wasn’t about the number of days; it was that he didn’t want his flexibility to be limited in any way. We’re coming across more candidates who want complete control,” said the recruiter. Fintech firms, more so than large banks, have been quicker to adopt ultra-flexible “work from anywhere policies” to attract talent, added another delegate.

Many interview processes are still entirely held via video

Surprisingly, despite the ongoing lifting of Covid restrictions, many interview processes in financial services are still taking place entirely via video. One recruiter said about half of her jobs are filled without the candidate and client meeting face to face. Another said at least one in-person interview is now the norm for revenue generating roles, but there’s no such expectation in job such as finance, corporate services, and technology.

​Hiring recruiters is challenging

The delegates agreed that there is a shortage of experience recruiters in their markets, which is making expanding their teams more difficult. “The basic salary for recruiters in Singapore is now way more aggressive than in Hong Kong. I thought I could come to Singapore with the same incentive scheme as Hong Kong, but I’ve had to change it,” said a Hong Kong-based recruiter whose firm has been expanding in the Lion City. Another delegate warned that although recruiters can easily move agencies in the current buoyant market, only the top ones will survive any impending downturn.

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Key takeaways

·       Global macroeconomic conditions have not yet caused a systemic shift in the Asian financial services job market, which remains candidate led, albeit with slightly less hiring year-on-year, particularly in Hong Kong.

·       Aggressive counter offers, combining large pay rises with non-monetary incentives, remain a huge concern for recruiters.

·       Overseas candidates are becoming slightly more straightforward to hire in Singapore this year, but this trend isn’t replicated in Hong Kong.

·       RMs with mainland clients and data specialists are in extremely high demand in both Singapore and Hong Kong.

·       A growing number of candidates are rejecting roles that don’t give them total control over working arrangements.

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​Discover and recruit the best finance and tech talent with eFinancialCareers

With an audience of over 3 million professionals, eFinancialCareers is proud to be the financial services industry’s premier destination for companies looking to easily source and hire world-class finance and technology talent.

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​To discuss any opportunities or connect with our Head of Insurance, Gary Wong, please email him at: Gary.Wong@connectedgroup.com