Private banks are hiring with a vengeance, with some headhunters saying the frenzy of the heyday of 2007 is back. Also being heard is an old complaint that expats are coming here to boss over the locals.
But a check with several private banks revealed that they have been hiring mainly locals though the high demand does mean suitable foreign bankers will get some of the jobs here.
'We have never been busier, to be honest. We have just had three successive best months, pipeline is as healthy as I have ever seen it in my 10 years of recruitment in Singapore,' said James Rushworth, managing director, Profile Search & Selection.
He said it seems bizarre given how tough last year was for most people. 'Candidates are getting multiple ideas and offers, increasing wage demands - sometimes totally unrealistic . . . (and with) more firms having to 'buy back' talent, so retention is a real battle for HR/senior management again,' said Mr Rushworth.
'Seems like we have done a full circle and back to the crazy recruitment days of 2007,' he said.
While demand is hot, private banks are also getting a lot of resumes from candidates in Europe as Singapore's financial centre reputation gains traction.
David Lim, Bank Julius Baer head, private banking South East Asia and deputy CEO, Singapore, said the bank is not yet done with its hiring spree.
This, after the Swiss private bank said earlier in the month that it had hired two dozen people, a11 of them senior bankers, for its Singapore office as it continues to build up its Asian business. This is on top of the six senior bankers it has already added over the last four months.
'Our hires are mostly locals,' said Mr Lim, though in the resumes the bank has received, there are those from Hong Kong and Europe.
'We're finding resumes of bankers in Hong Kong, some are Singaporeans who were there, now looking for a role in Singapore; there are also European specialists looking to relocate here,' said Mr Lim.
Veteren bankers from elsewhere are heading here as they see that the business in Singapore and South Asia has a strong momentum, unlike in China which is trying to rein in the hot money flows.
'They are anticipating a slowdown in North Asia . . . there's more consistency in South Asia in the sense that the economies like Indonesia are more stable,' said Mr Lim.
One banker said the industry does have a long history of sending people from head office to head the business here.
'But things have changed, Asia has developed its talent, local contracts are more common,' she said.
The complaint about expats coming to lord it over locals could be more perception than widespread reality due to more overseas bankers trying their luck at getting work in Singapore.
Said one headhunter: 'It is true that there are far too many white men in senior positions in private banking here as a result of them having found jobs here when they lost their jobs in Europe in 2008.'
He noted however that more banks are localising and pointed to Julius Baer's recent hires.
An RBS Coutts executive said its recent new additions are mostly from Singapore, with some from India and a few internal transfers from the UK.
He was referring to the 65 people, 12 of them bankers, recruited in the first quarter of this year.
One banker said the private banking world is 'ethnic' based; so, for instance, Indian clients are typically served by Indian bankers.
A Bank of Singapore (BOS) spokeswoman said the bank gets applications from across various locations in Asia and Europe as well as from Singapore.
BOS - the former ING Asia Private Bank and now owned by OCBC Bank - is looking for over 100 relationship managers across the region over three years. It has hired 11 bankers to date, she said.
On the difficulty of getting suitable people, she said:
'The hiring landscape is competitive but we are continuing to attract interesting talents with BOS's unique differentiating proposition, that is we are a wholly owned subsidiary of a Singapore-headquartered banking group, dedicated to private banking.'
- The Business Times
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