GrowInFinance would like to express their sincere condolences to the families affected by the tragic events in Japan. We hope that the country of the rising sun will recover. Yet, it is too early for conclusions on recruitment and we will monitor the trends as time advances.

We have some information for other Asian countries like China, Hong Kong and Singapore for the moment. The financing and banking sectors in these countries have been recently identified as one of the three fields which will have the highest demand in skilled professionals in 2011, especially in the private banking, wealth management, financial planning and management trainee roles. 75% of recruiters in the field predict an increased hiring activity in the following months. Most sought after are second-jobber positions as well as middle and senior staff with local experience. Other hot jobs are those in the fields of equity sales, private banking and prime brokerage where knowledge of the Chinese regulatory framework is highly valued.

Recruiters are particularly keen in attracting IT professionals with skills in Java who can implement technological changes and upgrades to provide the end customers with better service and increased efficiency. Banks from Singapore are looking into the Australian labour market to recruit, while Honk Kong professionals are finding it increasingly difficult to get good results using standard recruitment procedures.

Operational risk senior candidate search is also on the rise to be able to confront high profile operational problems, such as IT outage and develop and conduct contingency plans and internal changes. As this occupation is relatively recent in Asia, there is a definite shortage of talent causing recruiters to search among candidates with internal audit and traditional risk backgrounds, some recruiters say.

2010 has also brought to light the senior business finance partners search in Singapore and the trends is expected to evolve while recruiters are trying to attract experienced professionals from all around the world.

A large number of banks are looking to increase their headcounts in the relationship management and private banking sector. The main reasons for that are the increase of the wealth in Asia in general and the second is the expectations of flow of funds from other areas in the world towards the continent.

As the financial climate is changing, change management specialists in the finance sector are also in high demand. Their primary need of change is a response to the need of reducing the number of systems required in conducting business. Due to the intensive hiring, a lack of talent has been reported in Asia, particularly at senior levels. Professionals, such as senior product or financial controllers, with experience in project or change management are highly sought after.

With the increasing digitalization of the banking functionality, recruitment of e-commerce project managers who can supervise innovative projects is expected to rise greatly in 2011.

Further, due to recent market developments, banks in Hong Kong are expected to increase their M&A departments by a wowing 10% – 20% where candidates with both Chinese and international expertise will be in demand, yet speaking the local language seems to gain increasing importance.