HK
Hong Kong poised for hiring boom
11 January 2008
JPMorgan is set to grow its headcount in Hong Kong over the coming months – and it's not the only bank with expansion plans.
JPMorgan is adding staff at a rapid rate, with the bank’s Asia-Pacific chief operating officer Roy Kinnear saying he expects to see double-digit percentage growth in staff numbers in Hong Kong and Asia up to 2011.
Credit Suisse has also said it plans to add “at least 70” bankers to its 265 in the Asia-Pacific region, particularly in areas such as leveraged finance, stock and bond underwriting, and M&A.
Both Credit Suisse and Morgan Stanley have recently signed deals to move to larger offices in Kowloon – a clear sign they are looking to raise their headcount.
UBS, meanwhile, has said it plans to hire four more investment bankers for its 18-strong Asian property business, which is currently equally divided between Hong Kong and Singapore.
And Goldman Sachs, which has said it plans to focus on hiring outside the US in 2008, is also thought to be looking at this area, after amassing a $2bn fund to use for property investments in Asia.
This isn’t all – Asia appears to be a key destination for Bear Stearns, which named a new Asia chief executive in August and has recently announced a tie-up with Chinese broker CITC Securities.
Recruiters and analysts alike are predicting activity in the asset management arena, as well as more Asian joint ventures.
It’s not so much a question of who is going to be adding to their headcount as who isn’t, suggests Matt Pecheur, executive director for Options Group in Hong Kong.
“Almost every major firm is looking to add headcount in the region. And firms that suffered losses in the US and Europe will look to reallocate resources to Asia,” he says.
Demand for professionals in equity derivatives, commodities, FX and rates should remain robust, while areas such as structured credit, perhaps unsurprisingly, will probably be less active, he predicts.
There is also a lot of hiring activity at the moment within compliance and risk management, both areas that look set to be strong this year, local recruiters point out.
