eFinancialCareers

Hong Kong's i-bankers are eyeing Singapore's expanding private banking sector.

The Straits Times says Singapore needs at least 1,000 people to meet its burgeoning private banking needs; Hong Kong's investment bankers may yet help fill the gap.

The executive director at one headhunter in Hong Kong says private banking can allow faster career progression than investment banking because of its emphasis on pure revenue. He adds: "Candidates are being drawn toward private banking as it is seen as a sexier business than, say, investment banking, where you have to pay your dues before getting highly paid and respected."

"People see private banking as attractive," confirms Philip Eisenbeiss at headhunter Executive Access. "People from different careers are looking at it because salaries have been increasing as a result of supply and demand issues as well as the greater liquidity and the creation of more wealth in Hong Kong."

While Hong Kong has traditionally been a magnet for wealth from the north of Asia, Einsebeiss says Singapore is benefiting from wealth growth in the south – Indonesia in particular. However, Singapore's fast-rising cost of living may yet prove a turn off to Hong Kong bankers seeking to settle there – in our recent poll on the subject, 64% of Singapore-based respondents described inflationary living costs as a 'big problem'.

Pay also tends to be lower in private banking than investment banking. Headhunters say a mid-level executive with an investment banking background can expect to earn around US$160k in private banking.