Hays Finance Technology - July 2010

Hotspots

There is a continued focus on the region from many of the Investment Banks and a number of them are now growing their centres of excellence and also centralising software development or operations within this region.

Singapore is now viewed an attractive hub in its own right with a lot of companies also deciding to relocate their back and middle office IT Operations to the island.

Hotspots

E-trading and the continued shift away from vendor led trading systems continues with a number of institutions hiring Java, C++ Developers and C# Developers to work on projects to build in-house low latency, high frequency real time trading systems. With demand exceeding supply many banks are looking overseas and becoming more aggressive in their search for key team members with the experience to be able to deliver these 'best of breed' FX or derivatives based solutions.

The Market and Credit Risk areas of investment banks are also in need of extra resources as the need to integrate risk systems into emerging markets continues. Adding to this is the demand for more bespoke solutions around obtaining real-time data feeds.

The coming quarter

We are expecting to see an increase in the amount of operational or support based staff over the coming quarter as banks continue with their middle/back office relocations. Project Managers/Business Analysts and Testers will continue to be in demand but across more niche areas and for more specific projects such as the introduction of new banking legislation.

Additional office moves due to the increased expansion is also fuelling a need for Infrastructure based support and delivery management. As a result there is likely to be continued demand for service delivery and ITIL based resources alongside data management expertise as organisations move to a more centralised infrastructure service function.

Executive recruitment

The need to create new senior management teams across a number of organisations is continuing as growth within the region is putting additional demands on existing management. The need to divide existing responsibilities is driving senior appointments. The more popular areas in this sense are across Front Office with Equities, FX and Futures IT all appointing senior management to look after the increase in development resources.

Employer trends

Local banks are looking to promote diversity within their teams and there have been a number of specific hiring drives, for example promoting 'females in IT'.

Most of the major investment banks are competing for the same talent. As a result there is a strong focus on brand and they are all now promoting themselves consistently to make sure they attract the top talent.

Salary increments on average are remaining around the 10-15% for people moving to new roles. We are also seeing some variable components of bonuses being fixed in order to give more incentive for people to move.

Candidate trends

Candidates have more choice and multiple job offers are now more common. This is set to continue. More encouragingly some banks are considering true IT technologists with no existing investment banking knowledge for various positions (as long as they are able to display the right attitude and aptitude). This is a sign there is a lack of investment banking knowledge across the IT market in Singapore.