Hiring activity has risen by 51% in the last year for the APAC region, according to the Morgan McKinley Asia Pacific Employment Monitor. Meanwhile, the number of jobs and professionals seeking new roles has decreased since Q3 2014, mostly due to seasonal factors.
Richie Holliday, Chief Operating Officer, Morgan McKinley Asia Pacific commented, “Despite issues in a number of APAC geographies, however, it does seem that the overall sentiment, remains relatively positive and cautiously optimistic.”
Pro-democracy protests have done little to dampen Hong Kong's attractiveness for inward investment even with declines in the Hang Seng index. Investors put USD 200 million into exchange-traded funds in the quarter and over 360 new companies entered the Hong Kong market in 2014, with that number forecast to grow in 2015.
Hiring within the financial services sector still remains focused, driven by regulatory rather than business requirements with a broad range of compliance professionals being in demand. The Wealth Management sector also remains buoyant with private banks developing more sophisticated platforms to cope with the demands of their ever more complex clients wealth management needs.
"The general slow improvement in the hiring environment is set to continue in 2015, as more international and, increasingly often, more local clients expand into the region. A number of detailed surveys such as Global Talent 2021 from Oxford Economics forecast a global recalibration of talent, with growth in emerging Asia for financial services professionals estimated at 21% over the next five years."
Paul Arkwright
Publisher
