Commentary

The Australian Government’s recent response to the report on Australia as a Financial Centre prepared by the Australian Financial Centre Forum chaired by Mark Johnson includes some encouraging news for Australia’s managed funds industry seeking to attract further investments from offshore funds.

The talk in the street has never been more diverse with so much optimism and pessimism coming together at the same time. While the local market has seen more positive news coming through, the international channels have in contrast remained more sombre, with less than positive data from the US and European markets, lawsuits against institutions and the brewing uncertainty in the Korean peninsula. In Singapore, some of the market sentiments within the financial sector are: • Many long-only money managers are not in a rush to buy in. There is a general impression that the stock market has risen too fast in too short a period of time, in the absence of sustainable fundamentals. • Many textbook economists are pointing to a period of inflation in the years ahead with more printed money flooding into supply. The preferred hedge is to store up in physical gold. • Employees who were lucky to keep their jobs last year are starting to feel unappreciated and for not being compensated fairly for their loyalty through recent difficult times. Some other key trends we have observed in the Singapore market include: • With limited upsides in their home markets and the increasing strength of Asian currencies (some of which have been allowed to appreciate), institutions are favouring markets in the East over those in the West, and hence are injecting more investments into Asia at a faster pace than before. • Institutions that had originally considered Singapore purely as a cost centre for hubbing IT and operations, are now increasingly focusing on growing its revenue here. This can be seen in the build-up of sales and trading desks focusing on the Asia Pacific markets. • It appears that Hong Kong is closing in on the heels of Singapore for being a wealth management hub. After a period of relative inactivity for most of 2008/9, many banks are currently busy recruiting for priority-private bankers. • Investment bankers have also jumped on the bandwagon, making their rounds with new employers. • The pay premium for base salaries has returned, though it is largely reserved for asset-acquiring P&L generating positions. • The growth in front office hiring will lead to a corresponding expansion of middle office roles related to client servicing and reporting. • For back office positions, salary premiums for job moves are still relatively conservative. Most open roles are for junior to mid level (VP) hires. Supply of talent exceeds demand for director level and above positions. • Inward migration of senior foreign talent to Singapore can be expected as overseas head offices are starting to dispatch their best talent to ‘take charge’ and manage their biggest growth markets. Eventually a successful stint in Asia would seem almost necessary for anyone aspiring to climb up the corporate ladder back in head office. With more and more companies looking towards Asia for growth and expansion opportunities, Singapore will remain a strong market in the East, particularly with its business-friendly policies that have been put in place by the Singapore government. The only foreseeable threat to Singapore’s hiring market would tend to be more global in nature. For instance, markets will rise and fall based on decisions made by rating agencies and the accounting bodies that decide on valuation or mark-to-market practices. More major shocks are to be expected if there is lack of interest in the government bond markets or if there is a major sovereign debt downgrade, which may in turn lead to another chain of write-downs by creditor banks. The indices may blip frantically in the near term but judging from its performance in the recent global crisis, it would seem that Asia’s emerging markets will be able to ride out any of these shocks in the longer term. The continent should stand to benefit significantly from any uncertainties in the ‘submerging’ markets, and can continue to expect a flight of capital and jobs towards its direction. The Asian hiring markets have been highly active over the last three consecutive quarters since Q409, and we anticipate that there may be a technical ‘breather’ in the second half of the year as the hiring markets try to stabilise and take stock of their hiring activities vis-à-vis targeted profitability and growth plans.

Over the past few months the number of vacancies has been steadily increasing within the banking and finance sector across Asia. While this is great news for the jobs market, many employers are finding it difficult to source candidates with the right level skills and experience locally.

At the beginning of July, the world saw its first Stewardship Code being launched – in the UK. It will require institutional investors to commit to shareholder engagement or explain why they cannot. Although it will only apply to UK-based investors in UK-listed companies it is likely to attract attention globally, given the international nature of today’s companies. Some even believe that it is reasonable to assume that responsible ownership and investment will become the norm for major significant investors worldwide by 2020. So what is stewardship? According to a study by Tomorrow’s Company in 2008, it is one of four areas of shareholders’ responsibilities, alongside the provision of finance, the election of directors and holding them accountable, and the trading of shares to set the market price. A key responsibility under the stewardship umbrella is to keep companies’ management to account, ensuring they perform, are aware of risks as well as opportunities, and plan for the future. The Code builds on reviews of the governance of banks and other financial institutions, carried out in the UK last year, and comes as a response to concerns raised about the quantity and effectiveness of engagement between institutional investors and boards of listed companies, with questions being asked about whether they challenged company managers enough.  It also builds on the Code on the Responsibilities of Institutional Investors, prepared by the Institutional Shareholders’ Committee. This has been adopted on a voluntary basis in the UK for some years already, What does the code entail and why is it relevant to other markets? In the UK, the concept of active share ownership is key to the governance of listed companies. The thinking behind the Code is that it will contribute to improving the stewardship, and thus the governance, of listed companies. That, in turn, should assist the efficient operation of markets and increase confidence in business and trust in the financial system. It should increase transparency and benefit the ultimate owners of a company, who are typically quite detached. We also believe that it will further encourage dialogue between investors across country borders. Stakeholders that fed back on the consultation by the UK Financial Reporting Council, which oversees the Code, were broadly supportive of the idea of shareholders to disclose whether, how or when they will engage actively with the management of a company in which the invest. However, they raised some concerns over it becoming too onerous or prescriptive. While the Code to a great extent only formalises what is already quite widely adopted as best practice it marks an important shift in how the running and responsibilities of companies are weighted. Many investors, both in the UK and elsewhere, already follow the majority of the rules spelled out in the Code, however, for it to become truly effective, it needs to be given time to become truly ingrained and mature. While disclosure on implementation is important, the critical part is how the policies have been implemented. If it only turns into a box-ticking exercise, not much will be achieved by it. The success of it also depends on how it might be replicated in other markets, as broader adoption is required if market behaviours are going to see a real change. To exemplify; in the 1990s the percentage of shares held by foreign investors in UK companies stood at just over 10%, in 2008 this level had climbed above 40%. In other words, real change is only likely to be seen if the Code is adopted more widely across the world. As with all new rules, there will be cost implications. However, we believe that the benefits will outweigh these costs and should not discourage adoption of the Code. Any expense should be recouped through increased trust and confidence. We look forward to following and participating in debates about the Code here in South East Asia.

A phased reduction in interest withholding tax for Australian banks and foreign banks operating in Australia seeking to access funding from offshore markets was announced in May 2010 as part of the Australian Federal Budget 2010-11.

A lot is written about the pressures on banks created by regulators, financial markets, and the overall health of the economies in which they operate. However the change that is most likely to redefine banking as we know it comes from customers.

We’ve seen an increasing number of skilled professionals are relocating in order to secure their next career step. For many professionals, relocation helps to realise personal career ambitions that cannot be achieved locally.

The recent global financial crisis hammered home a painful but clear reminder that risk is pervasive, and can have far-reaching consequences.

The financial services industry has seen a resurgence in hiring activity as the Asian economic outlook has shown signs of improvement since September 2009. While this trend relates to all areas of financial services, there has been particularly strong jobs growth across the following business functions: Risk management remains crucial Post the global credit crunch, risk management has clearly become a critical function in the industry. This has driven banks to start thinking more about risk: whether it is market risk, credit risk or operational risk. Consequently, we have seen a surge in demand for people with expertise in these specific areas. Singapore emerges as an operations hub Singapore is fast emerging as an operations hub for the region with a number of international banks moving their operations and technology teams to the region over the last year. This has created to a strong demand for experienced staff within operations, especially those who have control or project management exposure. Compliance and control remains important While banking industry starts to grow again, there continues to be a strong emphasis on compliance, internal audit and control related functions. These positions are needed to help organisations stand up to closer scrutiny, as the industry looks to new performance indicators to assess an institution’s success. There is stronger M&A activity in the region With the increasing attractiveness of Asia as an investment destination, we have seen an increase in the hiring of corporate finance profiles as banks revalue their investment opportunities and actively look at potential investments in the region. A boom in Product control There are strong opportunities for qualified accountants within the product control function as banks are paying a lot more attention to the control mechanisms underpinning their activities. Private banking is coming to the forefront Already the world's second largest private-banking center, private banking in Singapore continues to grow, as tough secrecy laws and favorable taxes attract big accounts throughout Asia, hence creating opportunities across a number of areas in private banking.  

Financial Institutions should take note of the changing environment in payments. The payments ecosystem is transforming itself into something many have not yet fully grasped. It is the industry that many have yet to look at within their strategic radar.

Providing banking and other financial services to the poor has always presented particular challenges. By definition, people with little or no money lack all but the most basic financial resources and economic influence. Their exclusion from the financial system means they have no credit history and no basis for participating in modern financial transactions. Poverty means they have little if any collateral to underpin lending. In large areas of the world, poor people also live in remote rural regions without access to the infrastructure of modern commerce and communications. This inability to benefit from financial services plays a large part in preventing the poor from making even modest improvements in their lives, and helps to trap them in poverty. More than 1 billion of the world’s population subsist on less than US$1a day. Finance for the poor The microfinance movement challenges the view that poor people are also poor credit risks, and that they cannot benefit from financial services. The origins of microfinance go back to at least the 1700’s. Since then the principle has grown with a number of organisations specialising in this including ACCION, SEWA Bank and Grameen Bank to name a few. The China context Despite rapid and continuous economic growth over the last 25 years, China is still home to tens of millions of the world’s poorest people. Many of these live in impoverished rural areas with few prospects of economic improvement aside from migration to the rapidly industrialising cities. Large-scale displacement of the rural poor is creating massive social disruption and further deepening income inequalities and the rural-urban divide. The Chinese government has been attempting to tackle this complex set of problems by promoting economic development in rural areas, the creation of small and medium-sized enterprises and the provision of a financial services infrastructure to support these objectives. Microfinance is beginning to play an important role. Potential and challenges Over the last decade, the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) and the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) have encouraged the creation of rural credit cooperatives and village banks. More recently, trials have been taking place to establish dedicated Micro-Credit Companies (MCCs). To begin with, the Chinese government was very cautious, granting only 20 licences initially. ACCION, a not-for-profit organisation which has been active in microfinance for over 40 years, originally in South America, was invited to apply for one of the pilot MCC licences by the provincial government of Inner Mongolia. In December 2009, the company made history by becoming the first wholly foreign-owned organisation to receive an MCC licence in Inner Mongolia, making its first loans shortly afterwards.

There has been a general buzz in the Hong Kong market recently mainly due to the strong equities and real estate markets. With most firms’ profit beating forecasts, profit announcements by the bulge bracket investment banks have been better than expected. Quarter-on-quarter hiring has also improved, although on an adjusted basis. Quarter two and three traditionally experienced stronger hiring irrespective of a bull or bear market. Hence, increased hiring activity should also be viewed conservatively as a seasonal trend rather than be attributed wholly to market growth.

Accountancy & Finance, Banking, and Finance Technology are the skills in demand across Asia.

Several Asian countries, including Singapore, Malaysia, Korea, India and Japan, are currently going through the final stages of adopting International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). These are important steps towards achieving the vision of establishing a global set of high-quality accounting standards, as requested by the Group of 20 leaders.

The banking industry has been talking for years about what comes after Basel II, even as banks remain focused on ongoing Basel II implementation. Prior to the global financial crisis, the Basel Committee (“the Committee”) and national regulators were already looking at what would come next, particularly in the area of liquidity risk. The crisis clearly highlighted a number of vulnerabilities in capital and liquidity risk management in many banks, and on a systemic basis, which regulators around the world are now busy addressing. 

The financial crisis has generated demands for greater transparency in international taxation, pushing tax avoidance up the political agenda.