Economics vs. economy

Job and salary wise, it's not all doom and gloom in the money sector, writes Kate Harrison.

Now might not seem such a great time to become a banker.

The world's financial institutions are reeling from the effects of a global credit crisis and two of Australia's biggest banks recently booked a combined total of more than $2 billion in losses from the subprime mortgage fiasco.

But while the global financial crisis is certainly hurting our banking and finance sector, there are still some occupations within it doing well.

In fact, a global shortage of finance professionals - coupled with Australia's reputation for producing well-trained hard workers - means salaries and opportunities in many areas remain strong.

In its finance salary survey for 2007-08 - admittedly published before the NAB and ANZ write-downs - recruitment specialist Michael Page forecasts that good candidates will be in strong demand throughout the sector.
 
"Salary rises of 10 per cent or more are likely in the resources sector and nationally at the newly qualified level," it says for finance jobs in commerce and industry.

"To retain staff in the current environment, employers will need to demonstrate clear opportunities for career progression and invest in training and development."

The forecast for chartered professionals is also rosy.
 
"Employers will have to go as high [with salary rises] as 15 per cent to secure specialist skills in assurance, audit and corporate finance," the survey says.
 
"Looking at the year ahead, our forecast is for the buoyant employment market to continue with numerous opportunities for finance professionals."

David Bell, CEO of the Australian Bankers' Association, says: "There's been a consistent trend over recent years of good growth in banking jobs"

"The latest numbers, which are from 2007, show banking jobs for ABA member banks increased at 4.9 per cent, which is higher than for all industries at 2.9 per cent. In terms of salaries across the board, the finance and industry sector has the second-highest average weekly earnings after mining - and there's a big gap between us and the rest of the market."

Jon Michel of Jon Michel Executive Search - which specialises in recruitment of "front office" finance personnel for areas such as investment banking, funds management and private equity management - is a little less optimistic:
 
"We have a mature, well-qualified banking and finance sector here but if you've got international firms with a hiring freeze or issues where you're asked to drop 5 or 10 per cent of your staff - it doesn't matter how well trained your workforce is."

Simon Tobin, director of Michael Page's financial services business, says: "My business recruits mainly in the 'back office' areas of accounting and operations - which covers the technical administration end of the bank, such as trades support, settlements and compliance."

"It's fairly resilient because we're the people who keep the wheels turning and the information flowing - we're still in demand and good candidates are getting good jobs.

"'Risk in general has been a growth area and financial services organisations are subject to rigorous regulatory regimes so will continue to commit resources for dealing with that. Some projects have been pulled back but there are still quite a few acquisitions - [such as] ABN AMRO and the Westpac-St George merger - that will involve a lot of integration work."

And, ironically, the credit crisis has created employment for some finance sector employees.

"The banks do have these write-downs to deal with, so there will be some work in that," Michel says. 

Published: 23 August 2008