We all would think after the interesting year 2020, many hiring plans should be reduced or on hold. However, we see bright side on fund houses in Asia throughout Q4 in 2020, including Pictet Asset Management opens unit in Shanghai, billionaire Ray Dalio set up a family office in Singapore, US-based asset manager Barings expands Asia Pacific operations to Singapore. Asian fund firms looking to focus on hiring in Asia. In part 1, we will dive into North Asia market.
Still Hiring in North Asia
Jack Zhang, Selby Jennings vice president for investment management for North Asia believes hiring activity in the first half of the year may remain slow. “Some firms still prefer to wait until COVID-19 vaccination development progresses,” he said at Ignites Asia’s interview. “The first half will probably be more a wait-and-see sort of thing, but they will still be hiring for the most useful or business useful for this kind of environment.”
Zhang continues, “this could include specialist investment roles in booming areas like health care, TMT, renewable areas such asEV, ESG and new consumption, which will be most sought after as fund firms try to build new capabilities in these areas for the next five to 10 years.”
Candidates Are Ready
No doubt, 2020 has created a "candidate-rich" job market. Not many professionals have changed their jobs due to uncertainty lead by COVID-19. However, after such a period of time, we all get to the “new normal”. Many experienced investment professionals are now reassessing their careers and looking for new opportunities.
Expand Operations to China
China’s economy is bouncing back very fast, which leads to an uptick in terms of hiring locally. BlackRock, Fidelity International, Goldman Sachs, Schroders and Deutsche Bank asset management arm DWS have over the past month published adverts seeking executives covering the areas of market research, trading, compliance and risk control to join their respective China offices.
On top of China’s response to the virus has added to the allure of expanding operations in the market. “Even though setting up a physical office in mainland China may be somewhat difficult to do now for some global fund firms’ priorities, but the future for this market looks promising,” Zhang added. In December, Dubai-based RIF Trust expands into China.
Hong Kong Still Remain a Vital Hub
As China still has a vast shortage of executives with the specific background or experience to manage funds or run businesses for foreign firms, it means Hong Kong will still remain a vital hub from which many asset managers will want to grow their business in China.
See Part 2 to further explore the South East Asia market.
To read the original interview, please visit Ignites Asia.
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