In a sign of continued health of the sector, advertising levels for jobs in accounting and finance, including private banking, have soared in Asia, new figures show.

Advertising levels for jobs in accounting and finance, including private banking and investment management soared across Asia during the second quarter, lead by Korea, where job ads rose 29.7 per cent, according to the quarterly Robert Walters Asia Job Index.

Job availability for accounting and finance professionals rose 10.1 per cent in Hong Kong, 14.7 per cent in Singapore, 13.6 per cent in China and 4.9 per cent in Malaysia, between April -June 2012, compared with the previous three months, said the headhunter.

The only country in the index which did not post a rise was Japan, where advertisements in this sector dropped 9.6 per cent. 

Matt Bennett, managing director of Hong Kong, Thailand and Taiwan, said that there has been a boom in the number of adverts for skilled professionals. But while firms are looking to make plenty of hires in financial services, they are laying off just as many.

“Businesses that are suffering in the West are looking to Asia to make up lost revenue and this is putting pressure on management to gain market share without significantly increasing headcount. Therefore we are seeing a trend of ‘up-skilling’ as firms seek to replace underperformers with professionals who are better qualified to take the business forward and grow the bottom-line,” he said.

The rise in jobs was also partly due to an increase in activity following the Chinese New Year, said the firm, which impacted candidate and client activity. But there was also more employment churn as candidates moved after bonus time and clients sought replacements.

There was also evidence that an increase in demand for the best candidates led to more advertisements being placed for each role.

“While the number of jobs being advertised has increased by 11 per cent across the region, on the whole this was more a reflection of employment churn rather than employment growth. From a recruitment perspective the hiring process took slightly longer in the second quarter. Organisations were being a little more mindful of costs and in some cases going outside the region for headcount approvals.” said Mark Ellwood, managing director of Robert Walters.

TheRobert Walters Asia Job Index tracks advertisement volumes for professional positions including financial services, advertising, HR and business development, across job boards and national newspapers in Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Mainland China, South Korea and Japan.