Wage growth for banking staff in Hong Kong moderates as global slowdown takes hold
Recent data shows that wage growth for banking and financial services staff in Hong Kong has moderated to 3% over the last year (ending March 2011), down from 7% in the previous year 2010, says Astbury Marsden, a leading financial services recruitment firm.
The data* shows that in 2011 the average annual salary (excluding bonus) for all staff working in banking and financial services rose to HK$218,000 (approximately US$28,000), up from over $212,000 in 2010. In 2009 the average annual salary was HK$198,000 (approximately US$25,400).
Astbury Marsden explains that, whilst senior investment banking staff in Hong Kong are likely to earn upwards of HK $2million, the average salary of HK $218,000 is taken across all financial services sectors, and includes – for example – support staff working within retail banking.
Mark O’Reilly, Managing Director of Astbury Marsden Asia Pacific, says: “In 2009 and 2010 pay rises for banking staff in Hong Kong and South East Asia were ubiquitous, but this has tempered recently as the effects of the Eurozone and US debt crises have started to drag down investment banking activity across the global economy.”
“The long term outlook for the banking sector in Hong Kong is still solid but some of the froth has definitely been taken out of the recruitment market.”
Mark O’Reilly says that banks in Hong Kong do not believe that the region can stay uncoupled from the Western economies for long and, therefore, have been careful not to bid up the pay of candidates unnecessarily.
Adds Mark O’Reilly: “The Hang Seng Index is significantly down approximately 23% since the start of the year and the Shanghai Index has also fallen in recent months, that kind of correction feeds through to staffing requirements relatively quickly.”
“Candidates will need to moderate their pay expectations. Whilst a year or two ago those looking to switch jobs may have expected a 20 or 25% pay rise between firms. They are now probably going to face average offers of salary increases of between 10% or 15%.”
Astbury Marsden says that although average pay increases across all job roles in banks have remained modest, there are still some bright spots in the market with some of the highly profitable investment banking teams enjoying pay rises of 25%.
Although investment banks have recently slowed the number of new roles they creating in Hong Kong, that does not impact their long term commitment to the region.
Says Mark O’Reilly: “Chinese firms are increasingly choosing to have their primary listing in Hong Kong rather than the more traditional centres such as New York or London. We are also seeing a trend for global businesses to seek greater exposure to South East Asian investors by having a dual listing in the region.”
Recent examples include Prada, Samsonite and Glencore.
Astbury Marsden explains that Hong Kong raised the highest amount of money for IPOs in 2009 and 2010, eclipsing traditional financial centres such as London and New York. In 2010 the Hong Kong IPO market raised over US$57 billion.
*Compiled by the Census and Statistics Department of the Hong Kong Government
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