“Banks in Hong Kong are still fairly dependent on mainland talent because the typical requirement for native Mandarin speaking professionals hasn’t changed,” says Chris Wong, Head of Selby Jennings China to eFinancial Careers. “IBD functions need Chinese talent, especially given the recent competition between the Shanghai and Hong Kong exchanges over the increasing number of future IPOs and secondary listings from Chinese companies,” he adds.
No doubt, often we see "Mandarin is preferred" on financial service job ads. This becomes a standard requirement for financial services professionals. For example, investment bankers focus on helping expansionist mainland companies make overseas acquisitions; mainland investments to the success of Hong Kong-based PE firms. It looks increasingly unlikely you will get a client-facing finance job in Hong Kong unless you know the language. However, what is the talent pool status now in Hong Kong?
Majority of financial services talent speaks Mandarin
According to eFinancial Career's database, Hong Kong does have a good pool of Mandarin-speaking talent. More than half of the sectors (10 sectors) have over 30% native mandarin speaking candidates. Almost all sectors (18 sectors) have over 50% native and fluent combined Mandarin speaking candidates. It is interesting that this includes operations jobs, which demand comparatively little client interaction.
Source: eFinancial Careers
If you speak native to fluent level Mandarin, you are in a good position. But if you are weak in Mandarin, it is time to consider upskilling yourself.
Opportunities for the Hong Kong financial services market
The People's Bank of China and the monetary authorities of Hong Kong and Macau have announced to jointly implement the Wealth Connect programme. This will let Hong Kong private bankers serve clients across southern China’s Greater Bay Area. Although there are some concerns that Hong Kong might potentially be losing Chinese bankers due to Beijing's proposed global income tax, there is no Chinese banker exodus happening - yet.
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