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In the first of his regular “View from the top” series, our new columnist shares his insights on how to survive the year ahead in finance. The author is a senior banker based in Singapore, with three decades in commercial and investment banking at major international firms.
The full effects of the current global financial crisis will take their toll on the banking and financial industry this year in Asia. It’s now time to take appropriate steps to ensure your survival for at least the next 12 to 24 months.
The safest sectors
There is still a need for bank staff who specialise in risk management, risk control and internal audit. However, if banks continue not to book new risk instruments, loans etc, they will not need so many transactional-type credit or risk analysts. Banks have no qualms about laying off these people first and rehiring them later when they are back in the business of making loans. Risk jobs are therefore not totally secure, but they are at least still safer than other support functions.
In my own bank, loan-workout specialists are all overstretched and I know that other banks are still recruiting in this area. To enhance your survival chances and to pick up new skills along the way, it may be wise for relationship managers or sales executives, if possible, to request transfers to these departments. Accounting and credit skills are of course a pre-requisite.
If you are employed in the marketing of investment products, or in corporate or treasury sales, you will probably find it extremely difficult to do well in 2009.
Get close to customers and back to basics
Employers want to maintain their customer base for when the economic recovery arrives. To survive as a banker today, you will need to be very close to your customers and be recognised as the key customer-contact link to your bank.
After the current crisis is over, the financial world will be going back to quite basic banking: taking simple deposits, making straight forward loans, and providing trade and transactional banking services and foreign exchange hedging to core customers. Gone are the pin-striped investment bankers who structure complex deals and sell the risk to gullible investors and less sophisticated banks. Gone are the bankers who are remunerated in the millions by packaging and selling risky instruments. These chaps have all made their money and are now happily retired in their beach homes. They may return one day when the world has forgotten that they created this mess.
Investment banker 2.0
The new investment banker will probably be a humbler financial/investment advisor with an MBA from a top school, who has good market contacts and is skilled at finding potential merger candidates. He/she will probably be working for a global wholesale bank that is also able to provide credit to back up its advisory capability. To survive as an i-banker in 2009 and beyond, you should seek employment with one of these rare surviving global wholesale banks (e.g. BOA/Merrill Lynch, J.P. Morgan, Standard Chartered etc). I doubt these firms are hiring right now, but they will be amongst the first to do so when the carnage is over.
Keep your head down
In the meanwhile, if you are just a normal commercial banker or front-line support employee, try to maintain a very low profile, especially if you can’t meet your targets this year. Don’t stand out as being difficult, a non team-player, or too expensive. Be careful not to be blamed or associated with any credit or trading losses. In these lean times, no losses will be tolerated and your bosses will be on the lookout for easy scrapegoats.
Remenber that your boss will be as insecure as you are and insecure people usually discard their moral principles to ensure self survival. It’s best not to trust anyone with sensitive information which could be used against you. Also graciously accept any pay or bonus cuts. You need to put your head down and show that you are a loyal hardworking, obedient and self-sacrificing employee.
Want to learn about life at the other end of the finance ladder? Look out for our forthcoming “View from the bottom” column, written by a young banker who has recently been laid off and is struggling to find work.
Obedient? How awful, for me anyway. I believe the best employees stand out because they are not afraid to share their knowledge and experience. It is the reason we are hired. If we all start walking around with our heads down, this crisis will only get worse.
The suggestion that we be obedient is dangerous, frankly, and implies a suggestion that we do as we are told.
Work hard. Do your best. This is all that can be expected of us. Sometimes the best people find themselves re-trenched because of company considerations that have nothing to do with their performance.
Totally agree, Pete. However, in practise, those that survive are brown nosers and “yes” men, simply becos they are too weak to survive by providing real value-add to the organization.
I say, management should take some risks on their own book instead of hiding behind “meetings” and threatening insecure sales ppl to sell to meet targets. as morals are put aside in place of targets, more dangerous products will be offloaded to unsuspecting retail clients. afterall, this is how this mess was created – management is to blame. can’t blame the trader’s if they couldn’t/didn’t know how to warehouse the risk and were pushed for more P&L…enter the sales ppl to offload the trader’s risks.
i say management should be held more accountable. the little ppl in the organization are almost as unsuspecting victims than end-clients themselves.
Well, I think you SHOULD do as you are told, to a certain extent. Right now, I believe that you should indeed keep a low-profile, staying the course and yet not sacrificing your moral principles along the way.
Remember the reasons why you’re looking for a job, or if you already have one, why you wish to remain in that job… you’re earning a living for those around you and those you care about, period. If obeying my boss means taking a pay cut in the short-run but guaranteeing my long-term financial well-being of my family’s needs, I would be willing to be a YES man any single day.
Like the author said, now is not the time to stick your head out on the chopping block.
Obedient… OMG I needed that laugh on Friday. Thanks!!
Most of your article is ok but I can not see that “Keep you head down” section applying to everyone. I can imagine it would be very dependent upon ones job function, personal brand and employers health.
BTW I believe that the “loan-workout specialists” are learning as they go…
Thanks for the laugh. Greatly appreciated in this time of difficulty!!!
here’s an experiment for you: try working for a boss who openly admits he has no experience wotsoever about the business his subordinates conduct (let alone give two hoots) and see how you fly. I wld love to see my team excel, but “stratgegic” decisions have been made on a whim, without any consultation of those more experienced. When your boss tells you to “draw blood from a stone” (ie kill clients for $$$) and “no such thing as long term business” where are they’re moral ethics???
Agree with Jonny…most of the article is true except, the obedience portion. Does the author recall the his own country’s exposure to Minibonds and the fallout on the elderly and non-english speaking? (not to mention HK). i’m pretty sure that came as a result of “obeying” management and bosses who give orders without taking risks, without even knowing the asset backing the underlying capital were CDO’s.
agree with Job. i work in sales and have seen others sell FTD’s as diversifed products. have also seen mis-selling of simpler products by more senior sales. “trainers” don’t even know delta and the dangers of short option positions. all of these people have proper no exp/qualifications in finance, yet they sell some of the most complex instruments. truly amazing at the hiring and internal process. no surprises why this crisis came about.