Financial services job market update – October to December 2021
Coming into the end of the year, it was full steam ahead right up until December 31st across the financial services employment market. For the third quarter in a row, Kaizen Recruitment has had its best quarter on record. Demand from employers’ is continuing to outstrip supply of quality candidates across a range of roles within financial services. Continued growth in the industry coupled with closed borders curtailing inflow of talent has created a candidate driven market.
Many firms have made it mandatory that staff must be fully vaccinated to return to the office, unless the individual has a medical exemption.
A segment of candidates is looking to work overseas in 2022, as border restrictions have eased. Typically, these candidates already had plans to move overseas, however lockdowns and border closures put these plans on hold. They are also exploring options in the local market with global firms, in the hope that they can progress their career overseas within their current employer.
Bidding wars and counteroffers are at an all-time high, with employers pulling out all cards in an attempt to retain staff.
It was a bustling quarter for the Kaizen team with the average salary placed at $154K, at a high of $330K and a start of $85K (all including superannuation).
In the October to December 2021 quarter, 62% of our placements were within funds management, superannuation a strong second, with wealth management, asset consulting, insurance and trustee services comprising the remainder of the pie. There was strong demand for professionals across investments, ESG/responsible investment, risk and compliance, client services, data and performance analytics, investment accounting and operations, and marketing.
71% of candidates placed came from our existing deep network and relationships and 41% of placements were female. Kaizen experienced another record volume of work for the October to December quarter with strong activity across all portfolios.
Responsible Investment / ESG
Insights by Simon Gvalda, Principal Consultant
There has continued to be strong demand for talent across ESG & Responsible Investment roles with the undersupply of talent at the mid-senior level being most pronounced. Demand is strong across various industries with the Big4 banks and accountancies developing large teams across sustainable finance and consultancy which has taken up a lot of the up-and-coming junior talent in this space. We foresee this trend continuing throughout 2022. Read our ESG Salary Guide.
Investments
Insights by Matt McGilton, Managing Director
Demand was strongest for senior analysts who typically had between 4 to 10 years’ experience. We notice the strongest demand for fixed income & credit and property investment experience with ESG and Responsible Investment also having strong demand. Salaries at this senior analyst ranged between $150K and $200K with the highest bonus paying up to 40%. It was a great opportunity and perhaps unique time in the market for investments analyst to take the next step in their career with many receiving salary increases of between 15 to 40%. Coding skills and experience with data visualization were also skills sets that were highly desirable. Read more about career options for Investment Professionals.
Fund Operations
Insights by Nupur Gill, Director and Jack Brown, Associate Director
The fund accounting employment market continues to stay buoyant into 2022, with the pre-pandemic trend of demand exceeding supply of high calibre talent continuing on an exacerbated trajectory. This has seen an upward push on salaries, especially for highly experienced qualified senior fund accountants. The contract market is extremely tight, with premiums higher now than ever before for contractors. For additional insights please review Fund Accounting Salary Guide And Market Update. Investment operations too has seen an evolution as highlighted in the Investment Operations Market Update And Salary Guide.
Risk & Compliance
Insights by Amanda Chisholm, Principal Consultant
With an ever-increasing demand for Risk and Compliance professionals across the financial services industry, demand continues to outstrip the supply of high calibre talent in the space which has naturally put an upward pressure on remuneration. The largest increase was seen at the junior levels with an overall salary increase since the Royal Commission in 2020 of a whopping 66%. As organisations remain focused on building more mature risk and compliance frameworks and funds continue to grow and scale in size, the demand for high quality talent continues to trend into 2022 with no signs of slowing down. Read our Risk and Compliance Salary Guide.
Marketing
Insights by Stacey Fernandes, Marketing Specialist & Senior Recruitment Consultant
We’ve seen a surge in demand for marketing professionals in funds management across a range of marketing specialities including digital, events, product and advertising. Additionally, with roles ranging from coordinator level through to senior manager, there appears to be opportunity across the board. With an equal mix of newly created and replacement roles, employers are ensuring their marketing teams are well resourced leading into 2022. And while elements of a marketing skillset are certainly transferrable, experience in the financial services industry is highly desirable with candidates attracting a premium salary. Read our Marketing Salary Guide.
Wealth Management
Insights by Warren Corston, Principal Consultant
Demand for paraplanners and support staff remain high with paraplanners seemingly a key focus in wealth management. Whilst many look to outsourcing this function, paraplanning is seen as an integral part of a wealth management firm and as such many firms prefer having an in-house paraplanner; with outsourcing preferred as supplementary. Recent placements saw heightened salaries between $100K-120K package for a senior paraplanner. Associate advisers and client service officers also remain in high demand, with experienced associates commanding salaries between $75K-95K including super. Client services between $65K-80K including super.
Data & Perfomance Analyst
Insights by Jewel Dcruz, Recruitment Consultant
We observed a robust demand for performance professionals, especially Senior Analysts with 5+ years of experience within performance. Increased renumeration was observed more moderately at approximately 10% uplift for the more senior roles. Skills that were highly sought after include sound technical knowledge to perform manual calculations, interpret the numbers as well as experience working with attribution and performance systems. Increasingly, the larger superannuation funds are promoting internal hires and transfers from other teams to build their performance teams, allowing for cross-training and upskilling for their employees across the investment management lifecycle.
Team Updates
Kaizen also welcomed Brodan and Jerone to the business during the quarter as Client Services Associates.
As our team continues to grow, we’re always looking for our next team member. If you’re passionate about helping people as part of a dynamic, values-led team, or you know someone who is, please contact Matt McGilton on 0439 028 222 or email mattmcgilton@kaizenrecruitment.com.au
Get in Touch
Based in Melbourne and Sydney, Kaizen Recruitment specialises in financial services recruitment across funds management, wealth management, superannuation, investment consulting and insurance. If you’d like to discuss candidate career drivers and the current state of the market within the financial services recruitment landscape, feel free to reach out to us with your details below.
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