Credit Suisse - Transfer to Their Mainland Joint Venture
One of the examples is Credit Suisse. The Swiss bank wants to let go of about half of its investment banking staff at its mainland joint venture, Credit Suisse Founder Securities Limited (CSFS). As a result, they are parachuting in people from their Hong Kong office to fill vacancies. A recent source also confirms that Credit Suisse is transferring a number of senior selected bankers and traders internally from Hong Kong to China.
While Credit Suisse is planning to take full control of the joint venture, they are looking to have more control over roles in China. In June, they appointed veteran banker Janice Hu to be Chairwoman of CSFS to help drive the bank’s China onshore strategy and CSFS’s future business plans.
HSBC - Transfer Hiring Focus to China
Meanwhile, HSBC has resumed its plans to cut 35,000 jobs globally. The majority of these redundancies are in the western markets. With this move, HSBChas earmarked China as one of the main locations for its planned expansion in Asia. In HSBC June's announcement, the firm has pledged to continue to invest and support the Chinese economy. With the launch of an app-based financial advice service, HSBC announced that it is hiring 100 wealth advisers in China. These new investments mark the firm's continued efforts to capture high-growth opportunities in Asia, especially in mainland China.
Senior Transfer is a Growing Trend
The emphasis on senior transfers is a growing trend across the banking sector. Not just at HSBCand Credit Suisse, as firms such asCiti, JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and Nomura exert control over their mainland operations under newly relaxed Chinese ownership laws. “The internal relocations that will make the most sense would be the ones at the senior management level, leaders that are fit to be at the helm to drive the expansion, given their understanding of the firm’s culture and strategy,” saysChris Wong, head of Selby Jennings in China at interview with eFinancial Careers. “For these professionals, the move means bigger jobs with bigger responsibilities. Ultimately, they are tackling the world’s second-largest economy."
Outside of Senior Management
For most jobs outside senior management, however, foreign banks will hire locally and externally from competitors in China. “With the headcount targets that some of these foreign banks have set, it just wouldn’t make sense to depend on relocating internally. Secondly, candidates’ experience and understanding of the local market is especially critical for these banks if they are expecting to have any impact on local market share. Essentially, this will not be a game of musical chairs; this will just be pure growth,” says Chris Wong.
To read the original full article, please visit eFinancial Careers.
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