FINANCIAL SERVICES | NORTH ASIA

2021 Mid Year Review

and Look Ahead
Introduction
As we approach the halfway point of 2021,
which was earmarked to be the year that
businesses demonstrate how they have been
able to pivot, adapt, and accelerate growth,
the global financial services industry is no
different. Shareholders and stakeholders
are keeping a close eye on performance and
are also less accommodating to Covid-19
adjusted metrics. Against this backdrop, at
the Selby Jennings team, we are working
closely to examine the financial services
industry in Hong Kong, and there are two main
trends that we see running concurrently.
The demand for financial technology talent is
rife; banks will need to proactively transform
their businesses and operating models to
seek growth opportunities. By embracing
digital transformation to manage costs,
organizations will be able to reach clients and
provide them with an enhanced experience,
whilst also maintaining trust and security.
The second notable trend is for Hong In the following report, we will evaluate the
Kong to maintain and continue its role as changes in talent demand, what nuances affect
an international financial centre, thereby financial services, and how firms can solve
remaining as a gateway for inbound the number one business challenge: talent.
capital into mainland China and outbound
investment. Whilst continuing to explore
Hong Kong’s role as a major financial hub,
the special administrative region needs to
capitalize as being the financial hub for the
greater bay area, which appears to be one
of the most promising growth regions.
When looking at the financial services
candidate market in Hong Kong, critical talent
is in higher demand than ever before, which
has exacerbated an already competitive
Abimanu Jeyakumar
hiring landscape for many firms. Due to the Head of Selby Jennings,North Asia
global pandemic, there has been a dramatic
Abimanu.Jeyakumar@selbyjennings.com
decline in international talent, such as bank
graduates, expatriating to Hong Kong;
resulting in fewer promotions and fewer mid
seniority talent (VP-D) available for banks to
headhunt and help their growth strategies.
Contents

2 Introduction

4 Private Banking & Wealth Management

6 Corporate & Investment Banking

7 Investment Management

8 Sales & Trading

10 Middle Office

12 Quantitative Research & Trading Technology

14 Commodities

16 The Major Players

17 China Market

18 Summary

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Private Banking & Wealth Management
This year, the hiring demand across the Many private banks in Hong Kong have
private wealth management sector has announced major multi-year plans to hire
been active so far. Within private banking, over 1,000 client-facing staff and reinforce
bankers changing employers, or exploring their wealth management business in
external opportunities, are doing so after the region. After a relatively quiet 2020,
the distribution of bonuses. According to employers are currently more confident
the Asian Private Banker’s recent results, in adding headcount with the enhanced
Asia’s top 20 PBs AUM grew by 15% to market stability, and on the flip side, many
a record high of US$2.3 trillion in 2020, candidates are also looking to grasp new
whilst the RM headcount reduced by 1.4% market opportunities. Within Investments
- increasing the average AUM per RM. and Products Services, we have witnessed
evolving practices from firms to replace key
business-critical positions, whilst also new
headcounts support the increase in RMs.
Jack Metters
Vice President, Team Lead
Private Banking & Wealth Management
Jack.Metters@selbyjennings.com
Selby Jennings
For PBs, the biggest challenge is to attract
and secure talent in an ever-increasing
competitive market. RMs that carry a strong
network, and AUM of clients, will be sought
after by many institutions, employees who
can therefore provide unique opportunities
and a corporate proposition could be the
most attractive for candidates. In contrast,
it is also worth highlighting that relationship
managers, joining new employer’s banks,
will have a challenge with restricted travel,
particularly for markets outside of Hong Kong.
The trust and fiduciary industry across Asia
has continued to grow; with an emphasis
now on capturing the increased amount of
high net worth individuals, based in mainland
China, looking to structure their assets
offshore. This has created opportunities
for trust firms to open offices in Shanghai,
Beijing, and Shenzhen – employing staff
to capture new trust business, whilst
4
more demand for experienced trust
administrators based in Hong Kong. In
comparison, several trust firms in Singapore
have structured their businesses to align
with MAS regulations, while also tackling
the recent working from home restrictions,
which halted new business opportunities.

Looking forward to the second half of the year,

and beyond into 2022, the Selby Jennings
team predicts an upsurge in hiring and new
opportunities continuing to emerge in the
Private Banking & Wealth Management sector.

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Corporate & Investment Banking
The Corporate and Investment Banking industry has steadily managed
operations and established resilience this year. Hiring across this
domain has certainly picked up, and for the remaining half of the
year, the Selby Jennings team anticipates a peak in activity.

§ The M&A space, in particular, has been active in the first half of the
year, as a result of the higher volume of deals coming into Singapore.

§ Corporate and Investment Banking firms are also

competing in a similar candidate pool to the buy-side due
to an alignment of skillsets and demand for talent.

§ In line with other markets, Singapore is seen as the SEA Hub and
many firms globally are looking to set up or have a presence in Asia.

Bethan Howell
Vice President, Team Lead
Quantitative Research & Trading Technology,
Corporate & Investment Banking

Bethan.Howell@selbyjennings.com

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 Investment Management
In the past several months, hiring demand in
the Investment Management industry has
increased significantly in both investment
and sales roles. As hiring activtiy becomes
an ever more important business imperative,
notably, there is an evident shortage of
candidates in local markets. Unfortunately,
travel restrictions and the difficulty of
relocation continues to plague city-states,
such as Singapore and Hong Kong, which rely
on steady flows of expat talent, particularly
for high-end research and investment-
related functions. Businesses are therefore
observing that candidate pools, for most
sub-sectors, have stagnated and shrunk
due to the huge amount of hiring and
over-competition for the same talent.
Jack Zhang
Vice President, Team Lead
Investment Management
Jack.Zhang@selbyjennings.com
Selby Jennings
Looking ahead to the rest of 2021, we predict
that the hiring landscape will continue to be
dominated by intense activity. Organizations
may tap into more asset classes down
the value chain; from quant or equities
down to fixed income, macro products,
and structured or distressed credit. There
will be continued interest in foreign firms,
particularly funds from the US, interested to
pierce the robust Chinese, Southeast Asia,
and Australian markets. We also forecast
that private equity markets are continuing
to boom and bust cycle; specifically with the
secondary market continuing to attract more
investor sentiment and attention as China PE
valuations continue to grow with its economy.
7
Sales & Trading
This year, hiring and movement has seen
a significant uptick across global markets.
Factors influencing this activity range from
previously frozen headcounts reactivating,
bonuses not matching up to expectations, and
normal service resuming post-pandemic.
For many firms, the focus is still to build
into China, with a number of western
banks buying majority stakes in their joint
ventures, or acquiring securities licenses
in preparation for an onshore push. Many
Selby Jennings
will be looking to expand their structured
products and prime brokerage businesses
to serve a growing number of funds
onshore or build up their A-share research
and domestic product capabilities.
However, the shortage of candidates that
can cover the products and clients desired
proves to be a difficulty faced by many,
despite the growing number of mainland
Chinese candidates whose heads are
being turned by the chance of a return
to China with an international bank.
Across both Hong Kong and Singapore, the
sales trading space has been particularly
active. Hong Kong has focused on the
electronic platform and low touch, whereas
Singapore plays musical chairs on high touch.
The prime and synthetic space is also trending
in Hong Kong with Chinese firms looking
to attract experienced talent to facilitate
their local and cross-border expansions,
with some PB divisions hiring as many as
8
35 candidates over the last few months.
The A-share equity research push is being
fuelled by hiring across EVs, Industrial,
and TMT sectors, with even an increased
interest in commodities from several banks.
Across the FICC space, FX, Rates, and macro
desks, the region is seeing a slight shift in
favour of Singapore as a handful of their
clients have switched base from Hong Kong.
However, China still dominates with China
HY credit traders, analyst, and Mandarin-
speaking sales with HY product knowledge in
such high demand that some find themselves
changing banks 3 times in a couple of months.
Abimanu Jeyakumar
Head of Selby Jennings, North Asia
Abimanu.Jeyakumar@selbyjennings.com
Selby Jennings
Bonuses have also been generous and banks
are paying for industry-leading talent;
reports of HY traders at some Chinese shops
looking at upwards of 14 months bonus.
Throughout 2020, movements and hiring
were especially selective and often only a
neccessity. A return to normality and hiring
plans are executed, along with firms heavily
involved in commercial lending, or the
Archegos collapse for example, not able to pay
out bonuses at the expected rate, the battle
for retention emerges as an upending threat.
9
Middle Office
Risk Management
With part of the world still in lockdown, many businesses across Asia
Pacific are struggling to stay afloat. We are seeing higher insolvency
rates across the region as policy support is rolled back. As such, credit
risk is an area many financial institutions are looking to double down.
On the other side of the spectrum, with the abundance of dry powder
across Venture Capital and Private Equity firms in the region, many
are looking to exploit and expand their private credit businesses.
Naturally, with any expansion, risk management becomes a key
safeguard and component for any companies in this volatile market.
Simply speaking, the market for risk hires has heated up considerably;
with demand outweighing the supply. Secondly, almost all financial
institutions have fully activated their searches after freezing
headcounts for the past two years. It has become a game of who
can find the best fit, the quickest, with minimal training.
As such, risk candidates of any seniority are receiving multiple
offers simultaneously. In the past where candidates may only
look at compensation figures, many are now valuing other
benefits, such as work-life balance, workplace flexibility, mental
and physical health allowance , etc. Beyond a shadow of a doubt,
this is a candidate driven market through and through.
Selby Jennings
Ian Yeung
Vice President, Team Lead
Middle Office
Ian.Yeung@selbyjennings.com
Legal
As businesses entered the calendar year, the demand to hire
lawyers has skyrocketed in Hong Kong. This has largely been
driven by firms looking to capitalize on the impact that Covid-19
had on the world economy. Specifically, in the investment
management space, firms are deriving advantage from the
depressed value of cross-border transactions as international
travel begins to open up once again. This has led to record-
breaking fund-raisings in Asia and an increase in the demand for
fund formation and transactional lawyers for in-house teams.
This ever-increasing demand has caused a bidding war between
firms competing for the same talent. Subsequentially, organizations
are accelerating employee retention incentives in an attempt to
deflect any advances from rival firms. This is likely to lead to an
active legal market in the coming 6-12 months, as many firms
will need to hire for new and replacement headcounts.
10
Compliance
With the Wealth Management Connect scheme looking to
launch in the Greater Bay Area this year, many private banks are
expanding their stake into China. All private banks and multi-
family offices are aggressively adding front office headcounts
to onboard as many new clients as possible. As such, AML
remains the key priority amongst banks and regulators, with a
specific focus on utilizing a digital approach to customer due
diligence (CDD) or electronic know your customer (eKYC).

Nevertheless, KYC and CDD talent is limited in this space.

Especially when the boutique and pure plays are looking
for strong AML candidates who can also face clients due
to their smaller teams. Consequentially, the Compliance
market within the Wealth Management sector will
continue to be red-hot in the last quarter of 2021.

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Quantitative Research & Trading Technology
The Quantitative Research and Technology
niche is hotter than ever - with the eyes of
the world falling on Asia. In the Quantitative
Arena, we are seeing a flurry of the top global
hedge funds paying attention to sourcing
experienced candidates within Asian markets,
with the principal focus on China A Share
experience. Specifically for candidates with
this nuanced knowledge, employers are willing
to reduce the barriers to entry particularly
for PM’s, by either the number of years
they have been taking risk or book size.
In the Selby Jennings team, we continued
to see an expanding volume and flow to
market makers and high-frequency trading
firms. Most of the top liquidity firms had
a ground-breaking year that carried well
into 2021, which points to the many
expansion opportunities into new markets.
If 2021 has brought anything, it has been
the rise of Asian Crypto Investment Funds.
Selby Jennings
The digital asset space has been truly
heating up from BD, traders, to technology.
We have also seen a bounce-back year
in hiring for Investment Banks; above all,
there has been a heightened demand across
systematic market making and electronic
execution teams, indicative of a current
arms race across the top platforms.
On the technology side, it has truly mirrored
the demand from both Banks and funds.
The majority are looking to build up their
systematic trading team – it truly is a race
to arms. The expansion of electronic market
makers has meant a new wave of demand for
C++ developers is at an all-time high. The C++
developers aren’t solely progressing low-
latency trading systems, but also being used
to support middle and back-office functions
that need to be up to speed with regulation.
12
This raises a prominent question: what
is the biggest issue we are seeing clients
face in the current labor market? To put it
simply, it’s a lack of top tier candidates. Many
organizations in the Quantitive Research and
Trading Technology sector are feeling the
heat of a hot market, where each candidate
has multiple choices on where they can
move. We are advising businesses to strike
while the iron is hot; acting fast when they
find an attractive candidate and making sure
that they are offering a competitive rate
to avoid losing industry-leading talent.

Bethan Howell
Vice President, Team Lead
Quantitative Research & Trading Technology,
Corporate & Investment Banking

Bethan.Howell@selbyjennings.com

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Commodities
The Commodities team at Selby Jennings covers a broad range of different
sectors such as Oil and Gas, Metals and Mining, Dry Bulk, Agriculture,
Chemicals, and Shipping industries. In this first quarter of 2021, we identified
significant movement and hiring projects within the Commodities space
with Dry Bulk and Metals taking up 40% of our portfolio, in comparison to
Agriculture and Chemicals or Oil and Gas both taking up about 30% each.

Dry Bulk LNG

The demand for traders, with a strong
connection to the China and SEA market,
has substantially grown with multiple
companies hiring Chinese traders in the
past quarter within the Metals and Coal
space. We believe that emerging markets
within SEA are the next big consumers for
dry bulk products as it is an affordable and
reliable source of solid fuel for electricity
and manufacturing purposes. Since last year,
there was a spike in demand for Copper and
Metallurgical Coal related positions and
we expect to see more movement from the
Miners to trading houses here in APAC.
With the global initiative of curbing
greenhouse emission and buyers’ market
still being dominant in the LNG space, we
believe Asia – Singapore and China, will grow
significantly, especially for the smaller trading
houses. In the past quarter, many European
and Japanese houses have been looking to
hire within the LNG space; this ranges from
the commercial roles down to the middle
and back-office functions. It may be a tough
year ahead for the majority of producers,
but we believe many companies are still
incentivized to build up their LNG teams in
anticipation for upcoming businesses.

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Agriculture and Chemicals
With more and more emerging technologies shaping the market,
the future of agriculture is evolving, and solutions are becoming less
expensive and more accessible to the mass. The prices are getting
more transparent and this will inevitably affect the margins for
many trading houses. In the past quarter, we have witnessed more
investments made by the ABCDs in the R&D space, whilst smaller
agriculture firms are hunting talent from the big fours. Although
the manpower movement in the trading space has been limited,
we have seen hiring trends across the mid to upstream sourcing
roles and companies are taking trading positions; securing more
physical goods to hedge against the potential disruptions ahead.

Jerome Quek
Vice President, Team Lead
Commodities

Jerome.Quek@selbyjennings.com

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The Major Players
Despite 2020 being a historically volatile and
uncertain year, the start of 2021 has been
characterised by positivity, with all institutions
ramping up hiring across most asset classes.
With a dormant market in 2020, where
preservation or reduction was the strategy, In Singapore, the growth is equally strong, factor that is prevalent on a global scale due
hiring markets are active and aggressively but much more competitive for institutions to an international similar trend in hiring.
growing in the first half of the year. with the Ministry of Manpower not granting
employment passes. This has given any local
From protests to the global pandemic, Hong
Singaporean or permanent resident much
Kong has been on a freeze for two years;
more choice and bargaining leverage when
thus creating an urgency for businesses to
choosing their next employer. It also makes
make up for the lengthy downtime or pause.
counteroffers a serious risk to mitigate
The ties with China continue to influence
when getting candidates to the offer stage.
and affect headcount allocation, with more
of a pronounced focus to build teams that As the cost of being a person down on a team Neil Tsui
trade with their neighbours in the North. On Key Account Director, APAC
is too high – we have seen some employers
a positive note, Visa’s don’t seem to be an offer as much as a fifty per cent increase Neil.Tsui@phaidoninternational.com
issue with Hong Kong, which has once again to simply retain talent. Speaking with our
regained its lustre for alluring overseas talent. counterparts in the US and Europe, this is a

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China Market
As we have reached the halfway point of
2021, we are currently seeing strong hiring
momentum in China, which is overspilling from
last year. While hiring in other regions might
be part of a ‘rebuilding’ and ‘reshaping’ post-
pandemic strategy, demand in China has been
from a predominately growth standpoint.
China’s financial markets continue to open
up across various sectors such as banking,
securities, asset management, and wealth
management. This has massively benefited
foreign institutional investors who are taking
up majority ownership of their JVs in the
Chinese market, therefore actively building
out new teams or expanding existing ones.
Interestingly, hiring demand has not been
limited to one specific function but rather
across the front to back. Hiring for risk
and governance candidates has been
especially active, as China is in the process of
strengthening its regulatory framework, as
well as supervision for the financial industry.
Selby Jennings
For many foreign institutions who are looking result of China’s 14th 5-year plan, which
to set up new offices in China, it will be critical emphasized development plans in its
that they attain specialized talent to help capital markets, together with reforms
them navigate the complicated regulatory that will enable institutional investors
landscape from an operational perspective. to play a better role within it.
While it is seemingly positive with China in
such a hyper-growth mode, it is not without
challenges for employers to achieve their
hiring targets. At the moment, we are
witnessing too many employers chasing
too few candidates in the market. Fierce
competition amongst institutions looking for
the same pool of candidates then, has created
a talent shortage, whereby it is likely that
everyone’s needs will fail to be met. Employers Chris Wong
must begin to nurture alternative hiring Head of China
strategies, formulate incentives to attract Chris.Wong@selbyjennings.com
candidates, as well as having flexibility on
their requirements regarding potential hires.
Looking ahead to the rest of 2021, we
anticipate a strong desire for talent
in the mainland Chinese market; as a
17
Summary
When examining the financial services
market within the context of Hong Kong, the
outlook is promising – even macro metrics,
like GDP, tells us a similar story. The Hong
Kong market has grown at nearly 8% after six
straight quarters of contractions; this is a clear
indicator that the region is finally shaking off
the cobwebs after two unprecendented years.
It’s encouraging to see that Hong Kong is
bouncing back and remains an important
wealth management hub, despite the recent
emergence of Singapore. In the first half of
the year, North Asia as a whole has become
the global focal point for Asset Managers to
either establish or buy into a JV, a trend which
we predict may continue well into 2021.
Global Markets & Capital Markets hiring
Selby Jennings
in Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Beijing has
gone into an overdrive; both domestic
and international participants scramble
to have the right people in the seats to
complete the Greater China strategy.
We are currently in a candidate-driven
market; the need for governance and
technology talent, within financial services,
to advance corporate growth strategies
is compliant as well as efficient.
Exciting new verticals like Quantitative
trading, research and analytics,
cryptocurrency exchanges, and financial
technology disrupters are all pulling talent
from traditional financial services roles as well
as directly from academia. In sum, financial
services firms in Hong Kong need to pivot
from a ‘survive to thrive’ business model to
instead focus on growth – securing business-
critical talent to facilitate and take market
share. The market is as competitive as it
has ever been across the different metrics,
there will be clear winners and losers, which
side of the coin will your business be on?
Looking for a new hire?
Submit your hiring brief
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To get the full version of 2021 Mid Year Review
and Look Ahead (South East Asia), please visit
our website.
18
About us
Selby Jennings is a leading specialist recruitment agency for
banking and financial services. For more than 15 years, we
have given professionals peace of mind that the recruitment
journey is in expert hands. Our continual investment in best-in-
class technologies and consultant training enables us to match
candidates and world-leading companies with speed, precision
and accuracy. Today, Selby Jennings operates all over the world
to help professionals reimagine their careers, globally.

We pride ourselves in keeping our professional network up-

to-date with any changes that will shape the future of work or
employment. Visit our website to discover more invaluable insights,
including exclusive research, salary guides and market trends.

www.selbyjennings.hk

A Phaidon International brand

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