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Wealth Industry Recruiters: Books Of Clients, Track Record Still Drives Hires In Asia
Tom Burroughes
31 January 2013
Wealth
management recruiters in Asia feel generally
optimistic about the pace of employment growth in one of the regions to have
witnessed significant recent growth but the pace may not always match that of
recent years as the sector matures, firms say. Among common
themes in Asia are that firms are particularly focused on recruiting private
bankers and other managers with a proven career track record and able to bring
over a sizeable book of business, and preferably, that the speak Mandarin Chinese and have deep local
knowledge of markets. Also, bankers with knowledge of jurisdictions such as Indonesia, Malaysia
and some of the younger markets such as Vietnam
and Thailand
are sought after. All the
responses here touched on Asia in some degree,
although other regions are mentioned also where relevant. While a large
number of firms have responded to questions, a number did not do so, in some
cases due to lack of time or because they did not want to be quoted. Don’t be
left out if you want to add views. If any recruiters still want to comment,
please do contact me at tom.burroughes@wealthbriefing.com We appreciate
the time and effort taken to pass over views and ideas. Other collections of
views by executive search firms, concerning other regions, will be published in
due course. Daniel Jones, of Webbe International. (The
firm has offices in Hong Kong and Singapore. Jones has been at this
firm since April 2012) The pace of
hiring and movement at wealth management firms in the Asia-Pacific region has
not been as hectic as a few years ago, although this is partly caused by
increased wariness of managers in switching firms, given the greater regulatory
burdens and costs of bringing clients from an old firm, he said. “ markets, although
there is the perennial market share battle. The active markets remain the
emerging ones but on a selective basis. Asia
remains the leader but with much greater emphasis on regional national staff and
their growing business books,” he said. Selby Jennings What
would you say is the most noticeable trend in the wealth management recruitment
market at present and for the next 12 months, and why? “Relocation has increasingly become an issue
for private bankers and private banks as it is increasingly hard to gain work
permits in countries such as Switzerland
and in the US.
Therefore, deals are breaking down unless they are already in the country or
have a permit in place. It is getting very difficult to move a top candidate
from one location to another,” the firm said. “Product knowledge - It is still
very much about how many assets you can bring to an organisation, but recently
clients are looking for more and want experienced candidates with specific
product knowledge on the investment side. Why? Because clients are becoming
more demanding and the private banks need to be equipped for this to keep the
clients and provide first class service,” the firm said in an emailed
statement. Which areas of wealth
management do you see as offering the biggest opportunities for growth and
which areas are the least promising? Again, can you briefly say why? “There is a big opportunity with Family
Offices as they can provide flexibility and an open architecture to private
bankers and allow for clients to remain in the banks they are established with,
which is resulting in a lot of senior candidates looking to make this move,” it
continued. “Boutique organisations are attractive because
candidates feel that they are more valued as an employee and involved in where
the business is going. Boutiques allow growth in different markets and do not
restrict bankers to market segments as the established private banks do,” Selby
Jennings said. “Least promising
area for growth would be the Swiss market. Switzerland will struggle with the
new laws coming in that will further restrict private bankers. Growth in Switzerland will be limited due to this and
clients will look to leave and create opportunities for other jurisdictions
such as Monaco, Singapore and Dubai,” it said. How and in what ways
would you say the wealth management jobs market has changed the most in recent
years? “The wealth management job market used to be about potential
and client facing skills but now there are less jobs and more specific
requirements for the leading private banks,” the firm said. “Most
top banks are resorting to speculative hiring as a result of a saturated market
and budget issues. Clients are looking for only the best candidates and if you
are a private banker with a book of €100-150 million looking to move, you are
better off staying where you are until your book is €200 million ($271.3 million) -plus, as most banks
will only look at bankers with sizeable books of €200 million-plus,” the firm said. “It may
be an opportunity for boutique banks to capitalise on this and get ahead of
their competitors by bringing on some talented private bankers that haven’t
breached the €200 million mark yet and that top banks are overlooking. The
market has become more specific and focused to particular skills, with product
knowledge and deep relationships spanning 10 years or more with each client and
specific focus on bankers with UHNW clients becoming increasingly important.
This is especially evident with the top tier private banks,” it said. What regions of the world/your local region would you say
are the most/least busy in terms of recruitment? “The most busy regions would be Miami,
New York and Houston in the US who are aggressively hiring in the LATAM
markets, Africa and Russia
are rising in recruitment and the Middle East and Singapore continue to be active
hiring locations,” it said. “ The least Busy would be Europe in
General but in particular Switzerland
and London as
they are hesitant about the new laws and are only hiring very good candidates,”
it added. Dudley Edmunds, of Culliford
Edmunds. What would you
say is the most noticeable trend in the wealth management recruitment market at
present and for the next 12 months, and why? “Continuing
trend to want people with established and moveable books and there is a strong
focus on real quality of individual. I don’t see this changing. I think that we
may see an awakening interest in IAs will continue to be
interesting. Top-quality relationship managers will be fought after but become
more difficult to prise out unless there is a real premium or substantially
better career opportunity,” he said. How and in what ways would you say the wealth management
jobs market has changed the most in recent years? “Much higher
focus on the real quality of relationship manager,” he said. What regions of the world/your local region would you say
are the most/least busy in terms of recruitment? “Middle East and
Far East and for us, Europe, including Eastern Europe,”
he said. Christina Ng, associate director -
financial services and legal, Robert Walters Singapore. What would you say is the most noticeable
trend in the wealth management recruitment market at present and for the next
12 months, and why? “Private
bankers remain in demand and we will continue to see team movements for 2013
despite the major moves we have seen in 2012. This remains a growth sector in
Asia and Singapore,
especially with the drive to make Singapore
the private banking hub of Asia. We are likely
to see other areas such as risk and compliance being a key area of focus due to
increasing regulations,” Ng said. Which areas of wealth management do you see
as offering the biggest opportunities for growth and which areas are the least
promising? Again, can you briefly say why? “NRI
and Chinese markets continue to be the top focus due to the growth of
millionaires in those regions. For Singapore,
we are still seeing strong interest in Indonesia,
Thailand
and other emerging markets in SEA. There is a subtle shift away from offshore
banking for European markets due to regulations and the crackdown on tax
evasion globally,” Ng continued. How and in what ways would you say the
wealth management jobs market has changed the most in recent years? “Salaries
have increased exponentially in Singapore
and Hong Kong especially due to the
development of the wealth management industry in these countries. Private
banking professionals with an established AuM could easily be commanding double
the compensation that their predecessors with the same years of experience
would have received a few years ago. This was largely attributed to the
competition between the private banks for such experienced individuals and
changes in compensation structures. Bonus components and amounts have also
shifted, with other non-cash elements built in (such as shares) that will tie
in top talents for the long term and to ensure that the rewards goes to top
talents as opposed to the heydays, where good bonuses was paid to mediocre
bankers as long as the team as a whole was making money,” she said. What regions of the world/your local region
would you say are the most/least busy in terms of recruitment? Due
to the sluggish growth and recovery in US, we are still seeing some
restrictions in hiring in North America.
Europe remains an area of concern despite the bailouts and there is a wait and
see attitude towards hiring plans in London and Switzerland in
most organisations. Carlton Senior Appointments What
would you say is the most noticeable trend in the wealth management recruitment
market at present and for the next 12 months, and why? “Private
bankers remain in demand and we will continue to see team movements for 2013
despite the major moves we have seen in 2012. This remains a growth sector in
Asia and Singapore,
especially with the drive to make Singapore
the private banking hub of Asia. We are likely
to see other areas such as risk and compliance being a key area of focus due to
increasing regulations,” the firm said. Which areas of wealth management do you see
as offering the biggest opportunities for growth and which areas are the least
promising? Again, can you briefly say why? “NRI
and Chinese markets continue to be the top focus due to the growth of
millionaires in those regions. For Singapore,
we are still seeing strong interest in Indonesia,
Thailand
and other emerging markets in SEA. There is a subtle shift away from offshore
banking for European markets due to regulations and the crackdown on tax
evasion globally,” the firm continued. How and in what ways would you say the
wealth management jobs market has changed the most in recent years? “Salaries
have increased exponentially in Singapore
and Hong Kong especially due to the
development of the wealth management industry in these countries. Private
banking professionals with an established AuM could easily be commanding double
the compensation that their predecessors with the same years of experience
would have received a few years ago. This was largely attributed to the
competition between the private banks for such experienced individuals and
changes in compensation structures. Bonus components and amounts have also
shifted, with other non-cash elements built in (e.g. shares) that will tie in
top talents for the long term and to ensure that the rewards goes to top
talents as opposed to the heydays, where good bonuses was paid to mediocre
bankers as long as the team as a whole was making money,” it said. What regions of the world/your local region
would you say are the most/least busy in terms of recruitment? “Due
to the sluggish growth and recovery in US, we are still seeing some
restrictions in hiring in North America.
Europe remains an area of concern despite the bailouts and there is a wait and
see attitude towards hiring plans in London and Switzerland in
most organisations,” it added. Octavian Partners. Ally Ho, head of Asian private banking. What would you say is the
most noticeable trend in the wealth management recruitment market at
present and for the next 12 months, and why? "Most
banks; boutique and large are all looking for the same talent i.e. 10
years + of experience, a book north of $250 million with a solid track record
in singular coverage countries. This is significantly different to say
Europe and the Middle East where bankers normally cover 2-3 countries. The reason for this focus is the untapped potential of Asian countries
both onshore and off shore. There has been significant demand over the
last 12 months for bankers covering China, Hong Kong and the Philippines
– with a strong preference on team moves," Ho said. "Other
than this, the general requirements are for bankers who are director
level and above who can ‘hit the ground running’ and have a highly
transportable book. Most banks have focussed on management hires over
the last 18 months and as a result these types of positions are now
slowing down with the demand for pure producers on the rise," Ho said. "With
tighter regulation in Switzerland, and Hong Kong; banks are also
considering other countries where they may be able to secure new clients
with many of the tier one institutions now focusing on the HNW segment
versus the over-banked UHNW and family office piece," Ho said. "Hiring
is still continuing at the same pace as the last few years, most of my
clients are looking for high double digit growth in head count for the
next 12 months in order to remain competitive in market share," Ho said. Which
areas of wealth management do you see as offering the biggest
opportunities for growth and which areas are the least promising? Again,
can you briefly say why? "The
smaller houses boutiques are the main emerging players. They are
able to focus on discretionary and holistic private banking offerings
without the pressure of cross selling other areas of the bank; something
which the larger houses struggle with. Considering the spot light on
many of the major banks this year the boutiques are viewed as not only a
‘safer’ option where you are able to have a wider coverage of clients,
less crossover on prospects and most of all you are deemed to be valued
more as an individual – all important points particularly for senior
bankers in the market," Ho said. "The
products side of wealth management has certainly seen a slowdown in
growth, with very few exceptions most banks are overweight or full in
terms of headcount and for the foreseeable future are not considering
any further expansion," Ho said. How and in what ways would you say the wealth management jobs market has changed the most in recent years? It
depends on which market – within Europe there has been a definite slow
down on talent acquisition, with most only requiring back fills or at
best an additional one or two in headcount for the year. The Middle
East continues to be optimistic with most banks speculating that most
things have settled down market wise and now is a time to look again at
top talent, a lot of banks in this region are essentially regrouping as
there were a lot of moves in 2011," Ho said. "In Asia the market was initially
highly buoyant with many bankers moving from one guaranteed bonus to the
next with banks having little power other than participating in the
beauty parade. This has now changed, and not only are clients more
selective on the bankers they will agree to hire, but also pushing back
on demands for 50 per cent premiums on previous salaries for example," Ho continued. "Perhaps
the greatest change however especially in Asia has been in the attitude
of candidates, the most stable and therefore attractive bankers are
unwilling to move, even for management opportunities; preferring to
remain with their employer. This has been for a number of reasons;
platform capabilities, client servicing ability, brand and consistency
for clients. Most seasoned veterans of the market are happy to
understand what is available out there, but unless there is a real
compelling reason then they would rather remain where they are," Ho said.