Developing locals
Ayyaz Ahmad, the Asia Pacific director of Funds Partnership in Singapore, which recruits for asset and wealth managers, said that after more than a decade of importing talent, it was time to focus on training up local candidates.
“[Locals] are more than capable and they have the language skills,” Ahmad said.
Wealth managers are increasingly looking for local people to develop, hiring candidates straight out of university or from non-finance backgrounds such as luxury real estate or even recruitment firms.
Connections still get candidates far. Jeyakumar said while some candidates had made valuable contacts through family connections, others had done so while working in sectors where they were dealing with wealthy clients. Those contacts, all of which could become potential clients, are attractive for wealth managers.
For example, one candidate, who had been working for a top investment bank, left to join an auction house and built a network of wealthy Chinese that were bidding for diamonds, watches and paintings, before moving into wealth management.
Even if candidates have the polish, confidence and skills to close a deal, the move into wealth management is not always straightforward. Jeyakumar said these candidates often lacked knowledge about financial services or the creativity to come up with new ideas for client portfolios.
Candidates in other sectors, such as brokerages or luxury real estate, often focus on closing a deal. In wealth management, however, it is about building a long-term relationship with clients who are used to telling others what to do and therefore hard to convince.
