WELCOME
…to the 19th edition of House and we are into quarter 4. Hiring is still happening but the majority of it is outside of the banking sector which seems to be shutting down early for the year…the key sectors we are seeing is in corporate compliance and ethics within MNCs and hedge funds and functionally we are seeing hiring within cyber security..
Hedge Funds
The press in recent months has not been good for the hedge fund industry, the high profile Och-Ziff case and the continuing focus on the industry from regulators and governments across the world has seen an increase in hiring within both the large established funds, as well as the smaller, growing funds. Where to hire from? It is a difficult balance to strike and many hedge funds look at compliance in differing ways. The most common question is- do you hire from a long only fund or from an investment bank. In our experience the most successful hedge fund compliance officers come from the securities businesses of investment bank, largely due to the majority of hedge fund managers coming from this background..
Corporate Compliance and Ethics
We have mentioned in previous editions of House how the corporate sector is looking to hire more compliance officers and we have seen recently how large multi-nationals are starting to resource in this area. The dilemma we have is where to find compliance and ethics professionals for the corporate sector? Other than FCPA and Anti-Bribery legislation, there is no regulator per-se, so it is a different beast to supervise than with an investment bank. The key risks are where it gets interesting. Reputational, and Conduct Risk, ensuring that the training and culture are in place to prevent misconduct and damage to the reputation of the corporate. Data privacy and safety are also a key part of the compliance officers role in a growing sector for regulatory experts.
Cyber Security
Cyber has been in the press a lot this month, so we thought it worth another mention! The internet attack that brought down Twitter, Spotify and other social media outlets last week has provoked a lot of debate, but has there actually been any hiring?
Yes… We have started to see some movement in Asia, and it’s more at the junior end. More specifically we’ve noticed that Professional Services firms are hiring security architects from banks and corporates alike to try and bolster out their cyber capabilities. Perhaps this is because institutions are willing to pay a premium for consultants at this point while they work out if an internal option is viable or necessary? Maybe we will see institutions trying out Cyber professionals on a contract basis to begin with?
Is it all it’s cracked up to be for the Consultants in Professional Services? We have found that there is pressure on Cyber experts to sell their own services and often for programmers, pen testers and architects it can be a skill-set that they are not used to. We’ll be keeping a close eye on this area and in November Arion House will be hosting a Round Table event: Asia Security Breaches and subsequent Hiring in Cyber Security. Get in touch if you are interested in joining, spots are limited.