eFinancialCareers

Finance sector recruitment in Brisbane is suffering like the rest of the country, but certain jobs remain in demand. Compliance, risk, actuarial, audit, IT, regional banking and agri-finance professionals are all comparatively difficult to find, according to Andrew Steele, general manager, people & performance services at Suncorp. “The Brisbane-based candidate pool for specialised banking roles tends to be smaller because the relative scale of corporate head office operations in... Read more

A slow final quarter awaits the recruitment market in Singapore and Hong Kong. With Wall Street and Europe delivering daily doses of bad news, many banks in Asia are simply too scared to sign off on new jobs. But the reflective mood in Raffles Place and Central also means that massive layoffs are unlikely. Financial employers are playing wait-and-see, leaving the chainsaw in the shed for now. James Carss,... Read more

Don’t be shy about showing off your extra-curricular experience on your CV – it may just set you apart from the candidate pack in today’s tough employment market. Jon Michel, principal of Jon Michel Executive Search, says including all-around abilities indicates that a candidate can work hard, play hard and is therefore robust enough to cope with the long hours in the banking sector. “Successful candidates will ideally be good... Read more

As Nomura gears up to integrate Lehman Brothers staff across Asia-Pacific, should LB bankers be preparing for a complete change in their working culture, or even jumping ship in fear of the takeover? The answer, it seems, is that sitting things out is probably the best bet – life at Nomura may not be so different to life at Lehman, and the Japanese bank could offer better job security, too.... Read more

In the wake of the global financial crisis, a leading headhunter has described the Australian banking recruitment market as “two-speed”. John Coles, CEO of Executive Group International, says global banks are in limbo as they wait for direction from new owners and/or overseas masters. Meanwhile, Australia’s comparatively strong economic growth and its mining industry are helping to hold up local commercial banks with minimal exposure to sub-prime calamities. “The... Read more

Despite the dramatic upheavals in US investment banks, at Australia’s retail banks it’s steady as she goes. Hiring activity has calmed a little but that goes back several months so isn’t because of the US disintegration, says Edmund Gill at recruiter Hays. “Any hiring slowdown really began in July. Liquidity is tight, so there’s been an awful lot of prudence in the past three to six months. Banks are not... Read more

Thinking of working in Singapore? Employers and candidates there have become more cautious in the wake of the global financial crisis, but the local jobs market remains in comparatively good shape and is still attracting foreign talent. These are some of the key issues emerging from this week’s eFinancialCareers roundtable discussion, which was attended by senior internal recruiters from several of Singapore’s leading financial institutions. The roundtable panelists, who asked not... Read more

Lehman Brothers staff in Australia have been given breathing space to decide their future by Nomura’s expected takeover of their firm in Asia-Pacific. All employees in the region will be offered Nomura jobs if the deal goes through as planned. And in the meantime, the Japanese bank is said to be sticking to Lehman’s current salary levels for the rest of 2008. Patrick Everest, a partner at Jon Michel... Read more

As the sun sets on Lehman Brothers in Australia, the bankrupt firm is locked in talks with recruiters in a bid to secure positions for its soon-to-be-redundant staff. “It wants to put employees in touch with a select group of executive search companies to help them find their next job,” says one headhunter who asked not to be named. Lehman’s 130-odd Aussie employees will need all the help they can... Read more

The experience bean-counters gain from working for a Big Four accounting firm is proving invaluable when cashed up i-banks and asset managers come calling for their services. Cameron Heaney, managing director, Imagine Accounting and Finance Resourcing, says chartered accountants offer an appealing skill set. “The Big Four firms lead in controls and compliance. Today, more so than five to 10 years ago, controls and compliance are much higher on... Read more

The contrasting fortunes of AMP’s fund management and risk businesses are mirrored by the wider recruitment market in these sectors. While AMP’s fund management division reported a fall in earnings, the group’s results were boosted by the strong performance of its risk unit (Money Management). AMP Capital’s chief economist Shane Oliver tells us that the credit crisis, oil price rises and high interest rates created a “perfect storm” for... Read more

ABN AMRO Australia is about to disappear into the mothership, Royal Bank of Scotland, with an accompanying and immediate purge of management. Royal Bank of Scotland has announced it will buy the remaining equity in ABN AMRO's local unit and that Stephen Williams, RBS Australia's managing director, will run the combined ABN and RBS business. Angus James, head of ABN Australia and New Zealand, will step down. Will this... Read more

The new Singapore Mercantile Exchange (SMX) is searching for staff as it prepares for trading in early 2009. SMX is looking to boost its current 15-strong headcount, according to a director-level spokesman. He tells us: “We are recruiting aggressively at the moment and expect to have about 75 staff in place by the time we go live. From there, we aim to grow to about 100 and we will... Read more

The value of some super funds may have fallen this year, but there’s certainly been no decline in superannuation recruitment, especially if you’re a financial planner. And while industry funds offer more job vacancies, pay and bonuses are better at private funds. “Super hiring just hasn’t taken a hit. The last few months have been very busy compared to sectors like fund management which have frozen up,” says Kate Agouridis,... Read more

The potential Westpac/St George merger, which would create the country’s biggest lender by market value, is set to edge Sydney slightly further in front of Melbourne as Australia’s premier banking hub. Both Westpac and St George are Sydney-based, so the newly combined bank would also be headquartered in the harbour city. Mary Grant, principal consultant in recruitment firm Hudson's banking and finance division, comments: “Westpac’s Sydney headquarters is not... Read more