[HONG KONG] Hong Kong’s investment banking job market is showing signs of a recovery, with the number of licensed professionals in the financial hub ticking up as initial public offerings have staged a rebound.
The improved job landscape for investment bankers – with such jobs rising 0.5 per cent in February from the end of 2023 – comes on top off growth in wealth and asset management jobs, according to analysis by Bloomberg Intelligence (BI). Licenses for wealth management, private banking and family offices, are up about 5 per cent since 2023, while those for dealing in securities and futures were little changed, according to Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) data.
Stock listings are poised to double to more than US$22 billion in 2025, boosting the ability of brokers to expand and rehire previously laid-off bankers, according to senior analyst Francis Chan.
“Hong Kong’s finance job market could feature continuously robust opportunities in wealth management and a higher rate of re-employment of bankers,” Chan said in the report. “Layoffs in investment banking and institutional segments including sales and research remain par for the course among global banks, and some bankers are finding new opportunities in expanding Chinese firms.”
Citic Securities, together with its unit CLSA, China Merchants Securities and Haitong International Securities made most of the hires in the 12 months to February, Bloomberg News reported earlier. Almost 40 per cent of them were ex-UBS or Credit Suisse employees.
Meanwhile, HSBC Holdings, Standard Chartered, Citigroup, UBS Group and DBS Group Holdings may increase hiring in wealth management and private banking to target mainland Chinese clients, according to the BI note.
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The total number of licensed finance professionals reached 42,254 in February, up from 42,044 at the end of last year, BI said, citing data from the SFC.
Private bankers and wealth managers in the financial hub continue to command a compensation premium – a trend that appears more enduring, while the comparatively higher pay for investment bankers may prove short-lived, the report said. Higher remuneration for wealth managers has also made Hong Kong more attractive than Singapore and mainland China, Chan said.
Private banking relationship managers in the city made as much as 46 per cent more than those in Singapore, mainland China and Japan, while the pay gap for team and department heads reached up to three times, according to a 2024 Hays Asia survey.
Hong Kong investment bankers made 29 to 159 per cent more at the analyst and associate level, and 39 to 90 per cent more for directors and managing directors, the survey found. BLOOMBERG
