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Global financial groups are increasing hiring in Singapore and avoiding Hong Kong, as concerns about Beijing’s broad national security law on Chinese soil spur relocation of key roles.
Banks are looking to hire up to eight times as many employees at the rival regional financial center, in what recruiters describe as a hidden shift aimed at lowering staffing levels in Hong Kong and avoiding angering the Chinese government.
A December survey of LinkedIn data by the Financial Times found eight times more jobs available in Singapore at UBS and JPMorgan than in Hong Kong, while Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs and Citibank were posting more than double that number.
An investment bank executive said a quiet effort was underway to add more jobs in Singapore, where investment firms have traditionally had fewer staff. “It is prudent to distribute the risk given the geopolitical situation,” the person said.
Citi said the two cities were major regional hubs with a combination of businesses managed from both offices, and “continues[s] contract in key areas to support our clients in both markets ”. The other banks declined to comment.
The hiring snapshot coincides with the broader strategies of global banks, which were growing in Singapore even before the unrest hit Hong Kong in 2019. But the trend also dovetails with the broader reorientation towards Singapore described by recruiters. .
Hudson and Michael Page, who specialize in technology and finance contracting, said that 15 to 20 percent of their business this year had been helping financial groups move their functions from Hong Kong to Singapore.
“We have placed a good number of private bankers in Singapore this year from Hong Kong, as well as many security and compliance roles,” said TY Shao, a manager at Hudson in Singapore, which has offices throughout Asia.
Gavin Teo, Singapore-based associate director of Michael Page, said: “Hong Kong-based companies [want] to diversify its risk and bring some of its operations to Singapore “, adding that” if there is staff in Apac, they will put it in Singapore. “
Neither Singapore nor Hong Kong break down the number of jobs in the financial sector. None of the banks specified the current office staff in any of the cities. Citi is an outlier, having had a larger presence in Singapore for decades, where it has around 8,500 employees compared to 4,500 in Hong Kong.
Ella Sherman, Knight Frank’s associate executive director of sales, who works in the residential property market and deals primarily with expat clients, said she recently hired the chief executive of a Hong Kong finance company as a client. “He said that China’s handling of Hong Kong has resulted in its decision to move its headquarters here,” he said.
Many of her clients did not want to speak publicly because many were making a “subtle change,” Ms. Sherman added.
But Stanley Teo, managing director of financial industry search firm Profile Asia, warned that there were numerous reasons investment banks could be placing people in the city, including the creation of new digital banks and travel restrictions. during the pandemic.
“No one is jumping out of Hong Kong,” he said; “It’s strategically important for them to be there” and the banks were unlikely to leave the city entirely.
