
I wanted to take this opportunity to give you a brief update on the IT market for Q3 2014. At Pinpoint Asia, we specialise in two main sectors (a) Finance Technology (b) Hi-Tech/Commerce sector.
The main trends are below:
FINANCE TECHNOLOGY
Q3 looked more upbeat compared to Q2, despite there being more news of both downsizing within structured products teams in the banks, and news of outsourcing of back office support roles to India or the Philippines. Overall, certain business lines, such as, Equities and FX did see an increase in hiring volume.
We felt that the clients we work with generally seemed cautiously optimistic about the market. We saw hiring pick up across many of the Investment Banks, Trading Systems Vendors, Brokers and Market Makers we work with.
Depending on the seniority of the roles, salary increases were in the range of around 20% for our investment banking clients; 10-15% for commercial banking; and 10-15% for insurance companies. Although total compensation may be facing a downward pressure, base salaries still saw increases with movement from one company to another.
We have seen a growing need for candidates in the following areas:
HI- TECH/COMMERCE SECTOR
Market’s general performance:
The hi-tech and commerce sectors have also seen an increase in hiring volumes last quarter, in particular, we saw infrastructure related roles continue to pick up in the commerce sector.
We have seen a growing need for candidates in the following areas:
UX/UI roles:The new mantra seems to be to build software applications with the user in mind. Developers and designers who can think and design applications, both web and mobile, in an intuitive manner were in demand. Our clients typically ask for past portfolios to vet their design.
The market is not what it used to be back in 2006/2007 but it is showing signs of improvement and there is plenty of activity around. Once regulatory rules are embedded and become stable, we foresee that hiring volumes will increase.
Vince Natteri,
Director