Barclays is looking to hire more corporate bankers with international expertise in Singapore and Hong Kong, but finding new recruits won’t be straight forward – plenty of other banks want similar staff.
The firm last week appointed Alexander Harrison head of corporate banking for Asia. It also announced that it is hiring corporate bankers in Asia to grow its corporate client base in Singapore, India, Hong Kong and Japan.
And yesterday, in an interview with Singapore’s Business Times, a Barclays spokesman said Asia remains vital to the firm’s business, primarily because of cross-border trade and investment between Asia and Barclays’ three main markets – the UK, US and Africa. “Our focus here is very much on Asian corporate and financial institutions who want to do business in EMEA in particular,” he added.
Corporate bankers with cross-border experience are in increasingly high demand, however, as banks look to base relationship managers in Singapore and Hong Kong to service regional and global clients. Barclays will face stiff competition for talent not just from the likes of HSBC, Citi and Standard Chartered but from Asian firms like DBS and Maybank whose corporate banks are shedding their domestic focus. Skill shortages mean that if you’re a corporate banker in Asia with cross-border expertise, you shouldn’t be afraid of demanding a substantial pay rise to join Barclays.
Meanwhile:
OCBC to spend S$5m on SG50 gifts for 8,000 staff. (Channel News Asia)
Barclays APAC research head given global gig. (Finance Asia)
MAS announces new FinTech group and appoints employees to staff it. (Asia One)
Young, smart and want to save lives? Become a banker. (South China Morning Post)
Manulife Financial Advisers in Singapore poaching row. (Business Times)
70% of Nanyang Technological University graduates found work before they graduated. (Asia One)
Why a safe job is risky business for Singapore. (Straits Times)
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