2017 Banking & Financial Services Salary Guide

Banking & Financial Services salaries across accounting and finance, asset management, operations, insurance, corporate & retail banking, private equity, risk management and fintech

Commentary on Banking & Financial Services Roles and Remuneration in China for 2017

Hiring trends

Banks across the world are continuing to restructure their businesses in response to the slowdown in global growth, changing regulatory landscape and political events such as Brexit and the election of Donald Trump as US president.

Driven by a desire to cut costs and consolidate their operations, foreign banks have been reducing headcount since the second quarter of 2016, both in China and in Asia-Pacific more broadly. In many functions, with the notable exception of compliance, planned headcount increases have either been cancelled or put on hold.

Foreign banks are likely to remain cautious about hiring in 2017, as they await further clarity on the future shape of their businesses. Where they do recruit, it will mainly be into roles that enable them to meet their regulatory obligations, such as anti-money laundering, compliance, know your customer and risk.

Some front office roles may arise if the commodities market improves in response to the stabilisation of the crude oil price. There may also be hiring into positions that support the high-growth industries that are the focus of the Chinese government’s 13th five-year plan, including technology, media and telecommunications, energy, new energy, culture, media and sports. Relationship managers and risk managers will be needed to service state-owned businesses and large local companies in these sectors. Hiring trends will vary according to each bank’s strategy for China and Asia.

Although Chinese banks are making more hires than global banks due to their higher market share, they have also felt the impact of tough business conditions and lower margins. So the majority are scaling back recruitment or even restructuring and making certain operational roles redundant. Nevertheless, compliance professionals continue to be highly sought after by Chinese banks, which are under pressure to comply with industry regulations and improve their corporate governance.

Talent supply

Due to the slowdown in banking, many mid- and senior-level jobseekers – from across the front, middle and back office – are actively looking to move to the non-bank financial sector. They are attracted by the growth prospects and development opportunities offered by asset management, fintech, peer-to-peer lending and wealth management firms. Meanwhile, some employees of global banks are expressing a desire to transfer to other foreign banks.

Salary & compensation trends

Banking and financial services professionals can expect a pay rise of 0-10% for an internal salary review in 2017, rising to 15-25% for an external move.