In Hong Kong’s endeavours to be a leading fintech hub, the world of fintech and digital banking in the territory is seeing rapid advancements with the issuance of Hong Kong’s first set of virtual banking licences in March this year. As a result, the alacrity of such development is undoubtedly affecting the world of work for legal professionals, according to recruitment experts Hays.
“The maturation of Hong Kong’s Fintech industry is transforming long-established career paths for financial lawyers. In particular, as issues with GDPR compliance become increasingly prominent worldwide, so will the importance of data protection and cybersecurity. Legal professionals are therefore required to be in the know about the relevant nascent laws, and promptly at that. Such is most prominent in Hong Kong’s Fintech space considering its accelerating rate of growth,” says Adrian Lam, Business Manager at Hays Hong Kong.
“However, due to the relative newness of these laws and regulations, employers have been experiencing a dearth in the legal skills needed to keep pace with the demands of data localisation and cybersecurity laws. Many businesses instead turn to law firms as a temporary or mid-term measure while they continue their hunt for the right in-house counsel.”
The niche areas where legal talent are in demand in Hong Kong include:
- Fintech
- Cyber-security
- Data Protection
The recruitment firm also notes that while legal professionals in the banking and finance arena should take advantage of an employment market that favours them, employers remain discerning when employing the right talent.
“No matter the level of the candidate, perhaps of greatest importance for employers is that they are of a good cultural fit. Within Hong Kong there are both domestic and international organisations in operation, and each has its own unique corporate culture. For instance, a candidate who has been educated overseas and worked either internationally or at home for an MNC may not be comfortable within the structure of a domestic organisation, and vice-versa,” advises Adrian.
“For candidates who perhaps fall short of employer requirements, the off-season is more likely to afford better opportunities. Though positions and packages may not be quite so attractive in these times, they will find that competition for roles is not as high and their leverage will be stronger.”
For the full Inside Story of Legal in Hong Kong, please click here.
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Hays, the world’s leading recruiting experts in qualified, professional and skilled people.
Hays is located in Hong Kong at 6604-06, 66/F, ICC, 1 Austin Road West, West Kowloon, Hong Kong.
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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 31 December 2018 the Group employed 11,700 staff operating from 262 offices in 33 markets across 20 specialisms. For the year ended 30 June 2018:
– the Group reported net fees of £1.072 billion and operating profit (pre-exceptional items) of £243.4 million;
– the Group placed around 77,000 candidates into permanent jobs and around 244,000 people into temporary assignments;
– 19% of Group net fees were generated in Australia & New Zealand, 26% in Germany, 24% in United Kingdom & Ireland and 31% in Rest of World (RoW);
– 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, China, Colombia, Chile, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UAE, the UK and the USA