These are the Chinese securities firms hiring in Hong Kong

The “Shanghai-Hong Kong stock connect” is expected to push China’s equity market to record highs. It also opens up possibilities for mainlanders to invest in the HK stock market. For mainland Chinese securities firms, this is an opportunity for expansion.

If you’re a Chinese banker based in Hong Kong, this may sound like music to your ears. But how are these Chinese securities firms doing as we approach mid 2015? Which jobs are available in Hong Kong? We’ve trawled through the Hong Kong careers websites of some of China’s major securities firms to find out what they are recruiting now.

1. Haitong International

Most of the jobs available on Haitong’s website are front office roles – largely within the markets division. These jobs are mainly in its fixed income currencies and commodities (FICC) desk and Global Capital Markets desk, and include a vacancy for a vice president (VP) of deal execution. There are also some middle office jobs in risk management.

Interestingly, the three jobs available in global capital markets are all pretty senior: one VP, one ED and one MD,  and they’re all in fixed income.

2. CITIC Securities International

Among the 17 jobs listed on CITIC’s website, only four are front office roles. These include three sales roles in fixed income, equity derivatives and securities respectively, and a manager in its wealth management division.

Departments like compliance, IT and finance are also looking for new staff (albeit not in big numbers), suggesting CITIC isn’t expanding rapidly in Hong Kong.

3. Shenwan Hongyuan Hong Kong

There are only six jobs currently advertised on Shenwan HK’s careers website, and perhaps only two of them are interesting to financial markets professionals. One is a role of compliance manager, and the other an internal audit manager. Even these are hardly likely to set hearts racing.

What’s notable about Shenwan is that in all job descriptions, it says “we offer attractive remuneration package and fringe benefits including 5-day weeks to the right candidate.” If you’re a Hong Kong finance professional who’s sick of working weekends, this Chinese bank may be the places to work.

4. China Merchants Securities Hong Kong

China Merchants is looking for a lot of investment bankers in Hong Kong. Their advertised jobs span across several IB desks, from commodities to fixed income, from M&A to institutional sales. There are posts available in trading and research as well. Jobs currently advertised include “Night dealer”, suggesting that you need to work irregular hours in order to be in line with the global markets trading time. China Merchants also boasts “opportunities to rotate and transfer to… other overseas offices including London and Singapore”, suggesting the bank’s ambition for expansion extends well beyond China’s border.

5. Guotai Junan International

Guotai Junan has four job posts on its HK careers site, of which two are for analysts. One focuses on sectors and the other on stocks listed in Hong Kong market. The “Shanghai-Hong Kong stock connect” opened a door for Mainland investors to buy Hong Kong stocks, so it’s not surprising that demand for HK stock market analysis is on the rise.

It’s clearly stated that “fluency in Putonghua is a must” for all jobs. “Putonghua” is the phonetic pronunciation for Mandarin. We previously reported that Mandarin has increasingly become a must-possessed skill for HK financial professionals. As a Chinese brokerage, Guotai Junan certainly has a good number of Mainland clients who need to be served by Mandarin-speaking staffs.

6. GF Securities Hong Kong

GF Securities listed in Hong Kong in April. However, there is no sign of a big expansion – yet. There are only three jobs available on its HK website, two of which are senior research analyst roles which cover Hong Kong, China and US stock markets. GF’s overseas recruitment looks measured and cautious.

7. Huatai Securities Hong Kong

Huatai is the latest Chinese securities firm to IPO in HK. It listed on 1 June. However, just like GF Securities, its HK career website doesn’t show a lot of signs of aggressive expansion. It only has three posts open, and none of them is a front office role. Having said that, anyone good at product can try to apply for its product-focused analyst position, which involves a lot of maintenance and support work on Huatai’s various products.

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