Banking & Financial Services Salary Survey - Hudson

2011
salary
guide
RISK
In H1 2010 demand for risk staff soared,
particularly in Q2. In Q1, the market was
still uncertain as risk candidates remained
cautious and waited to find out bonus
numbers from the previous year. High
demand for candidates continued through
the year, across the board as banking
employers sought risk candidates as a
consequence of regulatory changes/
requirements and an internal desire to
manage risk more efficiently.
There was an unusually high demand
from organisations in Q4 2010. Although
recruitment processes were typically slow
for that time of year, meaning that the
number of placements made were not
necessarily representative of the high
number of mandates recruiters were
working on. However, the knock on effect
is that 2011 started off and continues to be
extremely busy. Risk recruiters have been
inundated with mandates across both the
banking sector and on the buy side, but top
candidates are still in short supply.
With regards to skill sets sought by
employers, there has been demand at all
levels but mainly at associate/ AVP/VP
level. The following areas have been and are
currently in demand:
| | Multi lingual credit analysts
| | Regulatory risk specialists
| | Business analysts/project managers/
change the bank (CTB) functions
| | Stress testers/scenario analysts
| | Market risk analysts – across each asset
class – including the CDO/ABS space
| | Liquidity risk specialists
| | Interest rate risk modellers
| | Quantitative candidates for areas such
as model validation, risk modelling and
exposure management
| | Operational risk analysts/managers with
specific product experience in areas
such as commodities, credit and interest
rates
From what we have seen so far, there
will be a reasonably high volume of hiring
throughout this year. Naturally there will be
quieter periods as there are always seasonal
slow downs in the summer and at the back
end of Q4. Financial services companies are
still trying to improve their infrastructure and
are still facing pressures from regulators,
we do not foresee this changing over the
next 12 months. Therefore, it is expected
that financial services institutions will
continue to hire staff across many areas
of risk. Particularly stress testers, risk
change/projects candidates, regulatory
risk candidates – basel, economic capital,
ICAAP specialists, liquidity risk managers,
operational risk managers and “model
validators”.
Naturally, over the course of 2009 and 2010
the media, public and government have
shown considerable interest in the financial
services sector and the way employees
are compensated. Public anger about
“banking bonuses” has played a key role in
changing the way banks are structuring their
compensation packages for their employees.
London
Banking & Financial Services | Salary Guide 2011 23