Although it is rare nowadays, several jobs in the banking and financial field in Hong Kong, offer double digit pay increases, when taking on a new job with a bank.
eFinancialCareers reached out to recruiters in Hong Kong, to put together a list of such jobs/departments.
Both compliance and anti-money laundering departments can give the most significant pay raise, each providing a 25 percent salary increase.
The know your customer department was close behind, giving employees a 24 percent rise.
Private banking RM’s can see a 23 percent jump in salary, followed by 22 percent for those who specialize in the internal audit field.
Corporate banking RM’s have potential for a 20 percent increase in pay while the credit analysis, credit risk, and market risk departments are often receiving a rise of 18 percent.
Employees concerned with regulatory reporting wrapped up the top ten list with a pay increase of 13 percent.
The survey results suggest that there is a high demand for candidates in compliance roles, especially those which focus on private banking and anti-money laundering. This creates strong competition between banks, for well qualified candidates, leading to the significant raise when switching employers.
Know your customer (KYC) expertise is also in demand and private/corporate banks need such expertise to deal with new clientele and the more stringent account opening requirements.
As far as front office employees are concerned, relationships managers in both private and corporate banks routinely receive a decent rise in pay. Private banks average a raise of up to 23 percent, but candidates who possess an unusually strong portfolio size have recently received as much as a 40 percent increase when making a career move.
However, relationships managers who are willing to accept what are known as “bumper salaries”, may end up putting themselves in a position they do not want to be in. Accepting these salaries may lead to them having to struggle in order to meet extremely onerous revenue targets, 12 to 18 months later down the road.
