The survey, conducted in October by Carlton Senior Appointments, found that Europe was (“unsurprisingly”, as it is “the traditional home of private banking”), the preferred destination of choice of these financial services executives. Even "several" who currently already live there were among the 28.6% who said they would most want to relocate to the Continent.
This, they explained, was because they were keen to experience another culture while developing their careers and remaining close to their home country and family.
The most popular individual country to relocate to, though, was the United States, cited by 18% of respondents.
More than one third, or 35.7%, said they would be interested in relocating for “as long as possible”.
Those surveyed were described as being professionals on the recruitment books of Carlton, a division of global recruitment consultancy Phaidon International which specialises in financial services, private banking and related financial sector placements.
Lure of more money
Perhaps not surprisingly, the survey’s authors noted, many of the respondents expressed a "high level of interest for relocation where there is high potential for an increase in compensation, with 32.1% of respondents expecting or requiring a 21%-plus salary increase in order to relocate”.
They also showed an interest in relocating to certain countries for tax reasons, such as the Middle East. Just 10.7% of respondents, meanwhile, said they would be willing to take a reduction in salary to relocate.
Commenting on the survey's findings, Carlton noted that they revealed a “very high desire for relocation”, which was, however, in stark contrast to a trend among private banks and family offices to be less willing to offer generous relocation packages than they had been in the past, and to be increasingly interested in hiring locally.
“Nevertheless, with the recent increase in regulation in Europe (Switzerland in particular), as well as increased wealth within emerging markets, private banks and family offices have turned their focus to thriving hubs in Asia, Latin America and the Middle East," Carlton added, in a statement accompanying its findings.
"This has certainly increased demand for wealth professionals both within emerging market financial hubs to cover the onshore market, as well as financial hubs in Europe to cover these markets internationally."
This, Carlton noted, could thus potentially be "the very catalyst for overseas opportunities that wealth and trust professionals have been waiting for".
A breakdown of the survey's respondents provided by Carlton showed that more than three-quarters of them, or 79%, were based in Europe at the time the survey was conducted; Asia Pacific was the second-largest group, with 7.3%, and North America third with 7.6%.
