Banking Tech Sector

1. We saw quite a few roles open up for Site Reliability Engineers and Platform Reliability Engineers. From our understanding, both are similar but the difference is this: DevOps predominantly deals with automating the deployment process of software (formerly Software Operations) and SREs are developers who write the software that aids this automation (SREs are Software Engineers)
2. Hiring in the Equities space, Asset Management / Wealth Management has been brisk at the banks. Prime Brokerage hiring has also been strong as banks are expanding their budgets for tech recruitment. The most popular tech stack has been Core Java (data structures, memory management) with AngularJS/ReactJS or HTML5 and either lots of curiosity or some practical experience in Machine Learning / AI. HKEX has also added a dual-class structure which could pave the way for more IPOs in Hong Kong and therefore more trading
3. We saw BA / PM roles open up in the Equities space because of Brexit as regulatory systems in Asia for banks also need changing as a result of it

Insurance sector

1. Roles in the Digital space across MPF and Pension were the most active. Solution Architects, Program Managers, Development Leads in this space were sought after
2. William Man was promoted to the role of Chief Information Officer and Chief Operations Officer for Manulife, Hong Kong in June

General Technology sector

1. We saw an increasing demand for native Cloud technologists. According to this website, ˝Cloud-native is a way of approaching the development and deployment of applications in such a way that takes account of the characteristics and nature of the cloud - resulting in processes and workflows that fully take advantage of the platform˝. Pivotal Cloud Foundry and the hard-to-spell Kubernetes were technologies we started seeing more of
2. More of our clients were also looking for candidates with experience in Microsoft´s Cloud platform Azure. MS is gaining market share in this region although Amazon still dominates the market
3. Technologists with experience in Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning technologies have been sought after by high-tech firms and vendors

Top Articles

1. We came across a new hedge fund flavour called ´Quantamental´. According to Bloomberg, ˝Fundamental and quantitative investing used to be the hedge-fund versions of oil and water: They didn´t mix. Those in the fundamental camp do analysis the old-fashioned way, evaluating investments based on research and instinct, with humans calling the shots. Quantitative money managers turn to sophisticated computer algorithms that search mountains of data for hidden signals and then make rapid-fire investment decisions. A middle ground has recently emerged: ˝quantamental˝ investing, a merger of computer and human-based decision making. It´s not yet clear whether the whole is more than the sum of its parts.˝
2. We read about a practical use for Blockchain technology inside a Jordan refugee camp. They use Blockchain technology to prevent fraud and process payment

Hope you found this information useful. Please do contact us should you need more information.

We look forward to helping you.

Best, Vince Natteri, Managing Director (on behalf of the Pinpoint Asia Recruitment Team)