eFinancialCareers

Westpac is under pressure to reverse some of this week's supercharged interest rate rises across its mortgages as rival banks looked to capitalise on the interest rate furore by taking a softer approach. (The Age) The decision by Commonwealth Bank to follow Westpac in increasing mortgage rates by more than the RBA's policy move leaves the door open for ANZ to do likewise and NAB as the only big bank to... Read more

The chairman of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, Tony D'Aloisio, is canvassing the idea of a super securities regulator with greatly increased consumer protection powers after the fallout from the global financial crisis. (Sydney Morning Herald) Macquarie Group has pulled off a coup with the recruitment of an experienced dealmaker to manage its fast-expanding operations in Asia. Kalpana Desai, former Asia head of mergers and acquisitions at Merrill Lynch, is... Read more

Fancy working for the watchdog? ASIC is putting banking professionals at the top of its hiring hit list as it expands its regulatory power. The regulation of credit will transfer from state and territory agencies to ASIC from 1 November, with the organisation taking the regulatory reins for transactions such as home loans, personal loans, credit cards and overdrafts. All this additional responsibility means ASIC has opportunities nationally for candidates with... Read more

APRA has intensified its push for deferring performance-based remuneration in the banking and insurance industries, to enable a better assessment of a company's longer term performance. (The Australian) NAB caused a flurry of excitement yesterday when it revealed a 7 per cent holding in perennial takeover target Suncorp. But the torrent of speculation subsided when the bank confirmed it was a portfolio investment by its wealth arm, MLC. (The Australian) Australian companies... Read more

"Since returning to Australia, I have been applying excessively to large corporates but to no avail. I have applied extensively to graduate programs with places like Macquarie Bank, CBA, ACCC, AusTrade, ASIC, Westpac, ANZ etc. I have not gotten any responses of value and not got to the interview stage. I would like to get into risk management, investment management, treasury and potentially trade. I have a glut of interchangeable... Read more

The Big Four banks are doing all they can to keep their top risk professionals from joining competitors. And fortunately for these firms, their employees are becoming increasingly unwilling to jump ship. This all adds up to a tight employment market. Risk professionals are generally reluctant to consider other options, says Dianne Wilson, a partner at Derwent Executive. “Search has become a lot harder because people are keeping their heads... Read more

The credit crunch and the threat of international fraud are bringing forensic accountants out of the shadows in Asia. These financial sector detectives are becoming an increasingly popular choice for compliance roles at banks in Hong Kong and Singapore. Hong Kong firms are hiring forensic accountants for jobs in compliance, risk and anti-money laundering, according to Nicholas Neal, managing director at recruitment company Optimum. “China is creating demand for... Read more

Forget London – Australians are going to Asia to snap up middle and back-office jobs. There are plenty of opportunities across a wide range of functions, says Louise Langridge, of recruiter Morgan McKinley. Risk roles are flavour of the month and demand is strong in operations (with good product knowledge) and compliance, especially at mid to senior management level, she adds. IT gurus should board a plane to... Read more

In risky times, it’s hardly surprising that financial institutions are going to town on risk specialists – particularly counterparty risk analysts who can help them ascertain whether the hedge funds and other clients they’re doing business with are liable to go under. “There has been increased interest but it’s been hard to get really good people in the counterparty space,” confirms Luke Heath, managing director of Chandler Heath. One player said to... Read more

Under Australia’s Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Counter Terrorism Financing legislation, introduced in 2006, all companies have identification and reporting obligations regarding the transfer of any monies – securities, bullion, FX, insurance, superannuation, gambling, fund and bank account transfers. If money laundering’s your thing, it’s good news – jobs are on the up. Steve Ingram, partner, forensics investigations at PricewaterhouseCoopers, and ex Federal Police and general fraud buster, says there has been... Read more

It's not looking good if you fancy landing a job in the Australian financial services market. The Aussie banking sector job market is floundering, according to the most recent monthly instalment of the Olivier Job Index. Report author Bob Olivier, a director of recruiter Olivier Group, attributes the poor results – down 5.12% in February – to the credit crunch, interest rate rises and the stock market sell-off. “Sub-prime write-offs have hurt... Read more

Could it be banks have failed in their 30-year crusade against insider trading? Yes, according to one senior banker. Last month, Caliburn chairman Peter Hunt was reported in the Melbourne Age as saying, “Unusual price movements ahead of takeover announcements and capital raisings in this market are frustratingly commonplace.” Hunt’s frank comments follow hot on the heels of the SocGen fiasco and trader suspensions at Credit Suisse. Will banks now rush... Read more

Forget US business schools, a new study suggests MBAs from China see the biggest boost to their earnings once the course has finished. The Financial Times’ 2008 MBA report found that alumni from Shanghai’s Jiao Tong University and Beijing’s China Europe International Business School (CEIBS) land the biggest salary increases upon graduation – 177% and 157% respectively. By comparison, graduates from a big name like the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School... Read more

There are signs that Australia’s appetite for banking talent isn’t quite what it was. According to the latest Olivier Internet Job Index, banking and finance was one of the slowest growing sectors in the past 12 months, dropping 1.45% in January. Is the sky falling in on the banking recruitment market? Bob Olivier, the report’s author, and director at Olivier Recruitment Group, says he’s not convinced: “We’re putting it down to interest... Read more

Senior women in Australia earn 50% less than their male counterparts, according to a Federal Government report. Is the same true in banking? No – at least not according to Bob Olivier, a director at the Olivier Recruitment Group in Sydney. He says the report’s findings astonished him. “My experience is that clients won’t offer a job to Julie rather than Steve to save on salary. It might be that if... Read more

Australia hasn’t lived up to its promise for ANZ’s ex-group managing director, Steve Targett. How common is it for immigrant bankers to come unstuck? In the case of Targett, the stakes are high and getting higher. Last month, he upped his damages claim from AU$2.1m to a hefty AU$57m, according to a report in the Australian Financial Review. Targett, a former banker with Lloyds TSB, claims he left his well-paid job... Read more

It’s often the case that when senior management changes occur, the after-effects can be felt through the organisation for some time to come. It’s too early to tell what sort of executive after-effects might develop following the departure of Macquarie Bank’s long-standing CEO Alan Moss in May, but most believe it will be pretty much business as usual on the recruitment front when new boss Nicholas Moore steps in. Macquarie expects to... Read more

Regardless of market uncertainty, there are several reasons why banks in Asia should keep hiring. And they are…. Talent shortages Matthew Hoyle, Asia Pacific director of headhunter Matthew Hoyle International, says: “There is still a tremendous shortage in the five to nine years' experience bracket across nearly all divisions, due to SARS and the Asian Crisis. No one was trained and hardly anyone hired during that period.” China Mainland Chinese banks have huge... Read more

Who’s hiring in Victoria? Big banks, according to recruiters. Sadly, the spokeswomen for both Melbourne-based ANZ Bank and National Australia Bank were unwilling to comment on their organisation’s hiring needs for 2008, but recruiters assure us both banks are staffing up in Melbourne during the first quarter of this year. “We have seen a big increase in demand for business development and relationship management staff due to new sales budgets that have... Read more