The need to comply with a raft of new regulations is a key driver shaping hiring trends in banking & financial services this quarter, according to recruitment experts Hays.
However, the latest Hays Quarterly Report reveals recruitment by banks and financial institutions is also being influenced by new revenue initiatives and trends such as a greater reliance on data and analytics.
“Malaysia’s Banking & Financial Services sector is going through a very dynamic phase,” says Tom Osborne, Regional Director of Hays in Malaysia.
“This is always a busy quarter as many candidates scout for new opportunities post-bonus and employers create backfill vacancies, but the current increase in recruitment activity goes deeper than seasonal staff turnover,” says Tom.
“New regulations are influencing not only compliance functions but also operations, digital marketing, human resources, procurement, supply chain and legal so we expect a dynamic,” Tom adds.
An interesting trend is the rise in internal fusion functions to ensure all areas within banking are protected. Hays has also seen strong demand over a couple of quarters for compliance candidates covering financial crime, risk and anti-money laundering due to extra governance requirements by regulators.
In addition, regulators are tightening Foreign Exchange Administration (FEA) policies for banks creating more roles for operations FEA staff with knowledge of trade and cash operations to help fortify the bank’s first and second lines of defense.
Banks are also looking to further develop their analytics capability for all internal functions driving up demand for candidates experienced in credit risk modelling and model validation and BASEL-related skill sets.
Meanwhile, new revenue-generating initiatives are creating roles across internal audit, investigation audit, consumer audit and treasury/investment audit. Internal audit capabilities are being scaled to focus on specific segments of the bank adding another layer of recruitment need.
We are also seeing hiring demand for relationship managers and credit analysts within business banking and corporate banking across both conventional and Islamic functions. These segments are growing but banks are also diversifying their investment portfolios for example to include construction and property.
“All this activity means candidates with well-developed stakeholder management skills and experience in project management and process improvement remain in high demand across the financial services industry too,” says Tom.
To read the full Hays Quarterly Report, please visit http://www.hays.com.my/report/index.htm
Hays is located in Kuala Lumpur at Suite 4 & 5, Level 23, Menara 3, Petronas, Kuala Lumpur City Centre.
Hays, the world’s leading recruiting experts in qualified, professional and skilled people.
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About Hays
Hays plc (the "Group") is a leading global professional recruiting group. The Group is the expert at recruiting qualified, professional and skilled people worldwide, being the market leader in the UK and Asia Pacific and one of the market leaders in Continental Europe and Latin America. The Group operates across the private and public sectors, dealing in permanent positions, contract roles and temporary assignments. As at 30 June 2016 the Group employed 9,214 staff operating from 252 offices in 33 countries across 20 specialisms. For the year ended 30 June 2016:
– the Group reported net fees of £810.3 million and operating profit (pre-exceptional items) of £181 million;
– the Group placed around 67,000 candidates into permanent jobs and around 220,000 people into temporary assignments;
– 22% of Group net fees were generated in Asia Pacific, 45% in Continental Europe & RoW (CERoW) and 33% in the United Kingdom & Ireland;
– the temporary placement business represented 58% of net fees and the permanent placement business represented 42% of net fees;
– Hays operates in the following countries: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Chile, China, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UAE, the UK and the USA.