The top 10 companies finance professionals in Asia want to work for

Goldman Sachs is the organisation that financial professionals in Asia want to work for above all others, according to the 2016 eFinancialCareers ‘Ideal Employer’ rankings.

While Goldman’s operations in Hong Kong and Singapore aren’t as large as those in New York and London, it still came top in Asia – as it did globally – in our survey, which asked almost 2,000 finance professionals in Asia (and more than 6,500 globally) where they would ideally like to work.

J.P. Morgan and Morgan Stanley were in second and fourth place respectively in Asia, as finance professionals in the region showed a preference for firms with investment banking pedigree rather than critical mass in Asian commercial banking.

Goldman Sachs, for example, employs only about 600 people in Singapore but outranks Citi (which boasts some 10,000 staff and a large local retail and corporate banking presence) by seven places in our survey. Goldman is a consistently strong player in Asian investment banking – it was the top-ranked firm for 2015 Asia ex-Japan mergers and acquisitions (M&A) revenue and was second for equity capital markets (ECM), according to Dealogic figures.

Why do financial services professionals in Asia want to work for Goldman Sachs? Of those who chose the US bank as an ideal place to work, the majority believed compensation was its main strength – 86% and 83% said it was competitive on salary and bonuses respectively.

In brand-conscious Asia, having a strong international name on their CV was an important motivator for the Goldman voters. They aspired to land jobs at Goldman because of its perceived leadership in the industry (82%) and financial performance (77%), and because they think it affords opportunities to work with key players in the financial sector (76%). J.P. Morgan and Morgan Stanley voters selected similar strengths.

Asian impact

While the three US investment banks are our top-rated financial employers in Asia, UBS and Credit Suisse notably take fifth and seven spots respectively – both slightly higher positions than at a global level. The Swiss rivals have recently become more aspirational places to work in Asia as they pivot their businesses towards growing their wealth management units in the region. Credit Suisse alone wants to hire 270 new private bankers in Asia by 2018.

At number six, DBS is the top Asian firm, reflective of the recent increase in financial professionals moving to local Singaporean banks, of which DBS is the largest and the most international. DBS, UBS and Credit Suisse are all perceived to offer more manageable working hours than Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan and Morgan Stanley. While 54% of DBS voters cited hours as a key strength, only 16% did for Goldman.

However, our research suggests that working hours aren’t necessarily a critical factor for finance professionals in Asia, with only 58% of respondents indicating it was an important criteria for them when selecting an ideal employer.

Google muscles in

In a top-10 dominated by banks, Google is the chief outlier. Its third-place ranking suggests that many Asian financial services professionals would happily leave their sector and join the tech giant, which has offices in both Hong Kong and Singapore. The appeal of tech jobs in the region is growing – over the past year more bankers in Asia have begun setting up fintech companies, following a trend started in Western financial centres.

Many of the reasons why survey respondents want jobs at Google are very different from the reasons they want to work at big banks, however. While 71% of Asian Google voters perceived pay to be a strength of the firm, they rated it even higher for ‘softer’ factors such as office environment (88%), flexible working options (86%) and positive culture (83%).

The recent efforts of banks in Asia to bolster work-life balance programmes and other schemes to support staff development appear to have made little impact on survey respondents. All of the banks in our top-20 rated 50% or lower for flexible working, for example. This would not have affected their chances of being selected as a ideal deal employer however as only 40% of Asian finance professionals said they consider flexible working to be important criteria.

View the complete 2016 Ideal Employer Global Rankings

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The eFinancialCareers Ideal Employer Top 10 represents the most popular employers that global financial professionals want to work for. #1 for 2016 is ...

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