HK
Pay failing to keep up with rising rents
With rents in Singapore rising as much as 100% in one year, bankers want pay to go up commensurately. That may be wishful thinking. Gary Lai, manager of the front-office banking and finance team at Robert Walters, says there have been some changes to salaries to reflect living costs, but they’ve been minimal: “Salary increments [...]
Winners and losers in the credit meltdown
Who’ll benefit and who won’t from the chaos in the markets? Here’s our considered verdict… The winners Derivatives documentation specialists Know how to settle a derivatives trade? This could be your lucky day. According to Financial News, last week’s trading volume for credit derivative products was so high credit that derivatives operations teams were overwhelmed. [...]
From hiring to firing?
Could the US sub-prime mortgage crisis and a wider credit squeeze put an end to the good times in Asian financial markets? Not necessarily, say recruiters. The global credit crunch, which has seen stock markets fall and central banks step in to shore up liquidity, doesn’t augur well for the future. But (more importantly) what [...]
Dubai plea for project financiers
Project finance specialists are in such short supply in the Middle East that the oil-fired trajectory of infrastructure investment in the region risks crash landing. Local recruiters say there are simply too few experienced project finance people to plan, oversee and execute the US$1.3 trillion worth of oil and gas, petrochemicals or infrastructure schemes lined [...]
The Insider: Pushing back or shutting up
Complaining when work’s dumped on you isn’t a good idea, says Hugh Karseras, author and banker. That doesn’t mean you can’t get away with it. A few months ago there was an email exchange posted on eFinancialCareers between an analyst and an associate that stimulated substantial debate. The nub of the issue was that an [...]
Mandarin essential for new expats
Want to work in China? Forget it if you don’t speak Mandarin. “Demand for fluent Mandarin – linguistically and socially – is increasing rapidly,” says John Jessen, partner at headhunters Smith & Jessen. “At the highest level, it is vital to be plugged in to senior regulatory/government and corporate contacts. A foreigner will be at [...]
Asia happy to pay for Indian IT talent
Big demand for IT professionals is prompting Asian financial services firms to suck in talent from India – and pay big money in the process. A study by recruiter Astbury Marsden suggests there has been a surge in the number of Indian IT professionals being snapped up by investment banks in Tokyo, Hong Kong and [...]
Guest comment: Are expat packages becoming extinct?
Not exactly – but they’re a lot less lavish than they used to be, says Emma Charnock, regional director of Hays Banking in Asia. Expats traditionally brought to a company a wealth of experience and an excellent education from abroad; they were valued for their insights and were remunerated accordingly. However, today’s local employers view [...]
Guest comment: Big banks are not always best
Top banks are all very well, but the so-called ‘second tier’ also has plenty to offer, says Chris Mead, regional director at Hays Banking in Asia. Given their size, diversity of products and business lines, global office network, extensive training programmes and budgets, top-tier investment banks have plenty in their favour. They usually offer more [...]
Want to work for the Chinese government?
It’s big, it’s bureaucratic, and it has US$200bn to play with. Time to work as a fund manager for the Chinese government’s new investment agency? China recently gave the green light for the agency to seek higher rates of return overseas. An indication of its intent came with the acquisition for US$3 billion of a [...]
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