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FinTech | Banking Industry Friend or Foe? 2 – 3

Technology Updates 4 – 5

Miranda Zhao - An Inspirational Role Model 6 – 7

Front Office Updates 8

Celebrating International Women’s Day 9

Finance Updates 10

Compliance Updates 11

The Banking Industry is constantly evolving, in the last decade alone

banks have come through the global financial crisis, the great recession

and a radically changed regulatory environment. All this at a time when

disruptive technology is challenging traditional financial service providers

like never before.

FinTech start-ups are playing an ever-increasing role in shaping the

landscape of the financial sector. At first glance it would seem that the

traditional banks have everything to lose but have banks embraced

FinTech as an opportunity for competitive advantage?

Rising Demand of Non-Traditional Banking

The world’s wealth is growing and as it does so, the demand for financial

services is growing too. The rise of the middle class across the developing

world in particular is likely to offer significant growth potential for those

well placed to service it.

Already we see examples of non-traditional banking ‘leapfrogging’ the

established networks. In parts of Africa large numbers of people are using

mobile banking. The growth of smartphones means that over the next few

years billions more people will be online.

The Growth of the FinTech Sector

The most disruptive technology that has been seen in the sector so far

has come from outside the traditional banking world.

Fintech is changing the way we deal with money and to be able to shape

the new world that is emerging, banks understandably want to be part of

that world.

The Pressure Points

Of course, banks have had plenty of other issues vying for their attention. The

ever-changing regulatory system, Payment Protection Insurance in the

UK and the London LIBOR scandal.

Not a year goes by without some new challenge. As Nikki Richards, Key

Account Manager at Huxley Banking and Finance puts it, “I think that, at

all times, larger banks have many different plates to spin and FinTech is

yet another plate - but the reality is it’s an important one.”

Another disincentive has been the initial cost of digital innovation. While

many technologies end up being cost savers, many require substantial

initial investment with no guarantees of success let alone future returns.

And banks have to compete in a very busy market when it comes to

specialists in FinTech mobile technology; it is a very niche area. “It can

be very difficult to find the right candidates and when you do they are

very expensive,” Nikki Richards says. “There is so much competition as

the right people are few and far between.”

Not just that, but the recruitment process between traditional banks and

their FinTech rivals are vastly different: “Technology companies can

move fast; they can interview and hire someone within a week, perhaps

one phone call and one on-site interview (depending on the availability of

the founders/senior members of the firm, they might have to come back).

Paperwork for an offer could sometimes be on the same day, if not

shortly thereafter. In banks that person might take a phone call, then

interview on-site that week, and come back the following week to meet

some more developers, the business, and/or the hiring manager’s boss

and HR. Then the actual written offer might have to go through several

layers of management sign-off or approval, which can take an additional

week(s),” explains Joseph Cooper, Banking Technology Development

Specialist at Huxley Banking and Finance, New York. That can be

challenging when it comes to responding quickly to new developments.

FinTech | Banking Industry Friend or Foe?Are traditional banks embracing FinTech as an opportunity for competitive edge? “Larger banks

have many

different plates

to spin and

FinTech is yet

another plate.”

“FinTech uses the latest technologies and can always make a switch to

another because their code bases are not massive and their product(s) is

a lot smaller,” says Joseph. “Things are agile and they want to use the

latest and greatest technologies.” Then there is the cultural difference:

“These companies have food served, nice kitchens, chefs, free drinks and

offer top benefits. They allow a lot more freedom in terms of hours worked

and the ability to work from home when needed, as well as work attire,” he

adds.

Getting In The Game

Many banks are now working hard to innovate. Barclays, for example, is

keen to discover the next big FinTech success with its accelerator

programme, an intensive programme designed to support promising start

ups. The programme includes guidance from key figures at the bank,

investment options, mentoring and networking opportunities in the

FinTech world.

There are Barclay’s accelerator programmes in London, Cape Town, Tel

Aviv and New York. The fact that senior executives are involved shows

the importance being placed on this kind of project.

Huxley’s Nikki Richards thinks it is an innovative approach, “I think it’s a

very smart way of going about it; I haven’t seen anyone else do it so

publicly. It is a way of fostering new talent and drawing the bank closer

into the sector.”

In some ways FinTech can be seen as a friend, as Daniel Woodgate,

Principal Consultant – Financial Technology in London, explains: “It’s

maintaining a level of talent that is required for financial services to

continue to innovate and move forward and as much as banks might lose

some people to FinTech, at the same time it’s spurring innovation in an

industry that could easily have stagnated otherwise.”

Some Things Never Change

Despite all the focus on FinTech, the thing that will always matter most is

what the customer wants.

What the customer wants is changing beyond recognition but ultimately,

to be the best, it is always going to be about being responsive.

While fostering start-ups, buying start-ups or buying from start-ups may

well be part of how banks go about ensuring that responsiveness,

FinTech itself is no silver bullet.

Daniel adds, “Whilst FinTech’s have started to eat into traditional banking

profits, many FinTech’s rely on the Banks as partners and customers, to

provide services and platforms to, so whilst some areas (e.g. Digital

Banking) there will be direct competition. In others, FinTech’s success

will be dependent on the good health of the Banking & Finance domain

as a whole and Banks are critical to that. Also to consider is that Banks,

some with enormous balance sheets, will continue to be able to operate

in markets that FinTech’s will struggle to compete in, whether it be IPO’s

(potentially even for the FinTechs as they continue to grow), M&A or their

own Venture Capital/Equity investments (many into the FinTechs) etc.

Banks will no doubt find ways to get a payday in an evolving market and

also as a result of FinTech success, one way or another.’’

To find out more about Fintech trends or to have a general conversation

about technology in the banking and financial services sector, please

contact:

Daniel Woodgate: d.woodgate@huxley.com

Joseph Cooper: j.cooper@huxley.com

Nikki Richards: ni.richards@huxey.com

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article suggestions for the next newsletter to newsletter@huxley.com

FinTech | Banking Industry Friend or Foe?“These

companies have

food served, nice

kitchens, chefs,

free drinks and

offer top

benefits.”

Software DevelopmentThe fierce battle for talent continues in the ever

competitive software development field. Recently we

have seen a move away from the hiring of OO

language developers (e.g. C#, Java) and a burst of

activity in the functional space. This includes

languages such as Scala, Haskell, F#, Golang,

Ruby, Clojure, Python and the list goes on. They

have always been used in the background due to

their better abstractions for problem solving.

However, due to the lack of supportive hardware and

compiler technology they have only just become

practical. These languages are being piloted by the

digital community who find their elegance and

concise solutions to complex problem solving a huge

advantage. At the same time they can be difficult to

learn, and therefore, currently command high

salaries with a heavy contractor presence in the

market. With technology continuing to advance on a

daily basis the demand for this skill set will

continue to grow as companies aim to launch more

innovative products requiring new approaches of

thinking and therefore new methods to deliver

solutions.

Mobile developmentMobile development continues to be a contract

heavy market. However, there are pockets of well-

known FinTech businesses that are already building

out permanent teams, with attitudes perhaps starting

to shift from a candidate’s perspective as well. Cross

platform development products such as Xamarin or

PhoneGap are still popular but from experience

there is still a preference from clients for developers

who are able to develop natively across iOS and

Android. Mobile development is equally as affected

by the DevOps and Agile culture by comparison to

web development so the usual lean toward Agile,

Test Driven Development and Continuous

Integration is prevalent but evangelists in this space

are still quite rare and the majority of the mobile

developers on the market are still learning in this

regard. Front end technologies remain mirrored

across web and mobile with Javascript playing a key

role with frameworks such as AngularJS and ReactJS.

There are some instances of businesses looking to

use NodeJS hence going full Javascript but this hasn’t

resulted in any major projects we’ve seen yet.

Business IntelligenceIn banking terms, the Business Intelligence market

has been very quiet since the turn of the year,

however this has yielded more of a market share to

competitor industries. Specifically within banking,

tensions and uncertainty in the City have led to a de-

saturation of the market, with even seasoned

professionals struggling to secure long term remits.

This has been exacerbated by the offshoring trend

which is rife throughout the industry.

Tech wise, Microsoft BI has continued to dominate.

Data visualisation is being led by Qlikview with

Qliksense beginning to show a presence. Tableau and

Business Objects are showing some promise,

however this has been contained more to the retail

banking and insurance industries.

The 'en-vogue' topic seems to be cloud computing

with many of our clients endeavouring to make SAAS,

IAAS AND PAAS a core part of their technical estate.

Data ScienceFirstly, one must note that data science isn’t

necessarily a new concept and has previously existed

for decades in the form of business intelligence, data

analyst and quantitative development. However, the

more recent explosion in the amount of data we create

on a minute by minute basis combined with the

advancements in server processors has led to a

slightly new field of research and algorithmic design,

coined data science.

There are two main types of companies looking to

hire these profiles currently. Naturally the start-up

world focussed on delivering innovative machine

learning and artificially intelligent solutions to

common problems are hiring the smartest brains out

of the Computer Science Red Bricks. Their

candidate proposition is very engaging given the

shear exposure to all aspects of the business that

one can gain within the start-up environment. This is

the main factor allowing start-ups and early stage

ventures to remain competitive against the

impressive salaries companies such as Facebook,

Google, Microsoft and IBM can offer when hiring.

However, these larger more established tech firms

tend to hire data scientists/machine learning experts

into their research centres of excellence providing

candidates with the opportunity to experiment and

create their own projects. Whereas start-ups will hire

with a specific mandate in mind, yet innovative and

entrepreneurial personalities are key to help them

survive and thrive.

Few of the largest hedge funds have started building

up similar centres of excellence including most

notably Man Group who have strategically partnered

with Oxford’s Computer Science department offering

PhDs project work that can be used for their theses.

Other smaller funds have started asking questions

around the data science piece but are currently

unsure of how to harness the specific skill set of data

analysis, machine learning and algorithmic

knowledge partnered with the specific finance

domain.

Another, key area includes Computer Vision where a

variety of industries are experimenting in different

ways to utilise this potentially very powerful tool

which could look to supercharge many industries

Technology Updates We digest the latest updates in your market

Big banks shift fintech

strategyCNBC

What SMEs can learn

from FintechHuxley

Five Fintech Trends for 2016

BBVA

specifically including the marketing, healthcare and

financial space into a whole new realm. One of the

most exciting hot stories in this space includes the

recent news of Mary Lou Jepsen’s announcement to

leave Facebook’s Oculus Rift to join start-up Open

Water to work on developing wearable MRI. With a

strong academic background, experience at Intel

and Google plus running her own successful start-

ups, it will definitely be interesting to keep a close

eye on as this story develops.

Finally, in terms of trends, driverless cars continue to

steal the headlines as the race continues between

most notably Google and Tesla, to get fully approved

vehicles on the road. Throughout 2016 expect to see

huge in roads (no pun intended) in this field of AI.

The next battle will involve persuading consumers to

adopt this method of transport full time. On another

note, what will be more interesting to observe, will be

the companies providing solutions alongside this

new breed of cars, e.g. the insurance markets and

how companies like Uber will evolve.

Information Security This year has already been a big year for information

security and high profile data breaches. A recent

example of this and the implications when data

breaches happen is the Panama Law Firm, Mossack

Fonseca.

Very recently Mossack Fonseca suffered one of the

biggest leaks in history when it had eleven million

files leaked to a worldwide consortium of

newspapers. Direct effects of this data leak has

resulted in the resignation of the Icelandic Prime

Minister, due to public pressure. Not only this, but

over sixty heads of state and politicians are also

implicated, including the football’s world governing

body FIFA.

Another major trend that we have seen within the

market is a marked increase in the spending on

information security by organisations. A survey of

10,000 senior information security managers by PwC

found that information security spending increased by

51% in the technology sector and 14% within the

financial services sector from 2015. One of the

reasons for the increase in spending on information is

the worry of reputational damage caused by a data

leak, with 41% of organisations polled in a

government survey suggesting that damage to their

reputation had the greatest impact.

This increased spending can be seen in an increase

in hiring for cyber/ information security professionals,

especially within Financial Services and the

Technology sectors. With a survey from PwC finding

that information security spending increased by 51%

in the technology sector and 14% within the financial

services from 2015. This increased amount of

spending within this space has led to the demand for

workers outstripping the current supply within the

market. The breakdown of permeant hiring and

contractual hiring shows that, the majority of the roles

advertised on IT specific job boards throughout the

UK are permanent. With the number of permanent

roles advertised in a 3 month period to 8th April 2016

ballooning to 1977, which is up over 100% from the

same period in 2015. The contractual side of things

has also seen an increase but not as dramatic as

experienced by the permanent job market, with 407

jobs posted in the same period, also up over 100%

from the same period in 2015.

We have also see a dramatic rise in the number of

Chief Information Security Officers (CISO) as well as

an increase in responsibility associated with these

roles. Historically information security was considered

within the domain of the IT department, however, high

profile financial losses and reputational damage of

large companies has turned this issue into a central

topic discussed at board level. This has in turn led to a

huge demand in the requirement for senior

information security managers, with c-level

stakeholder management skills to come in and

translate technical requirements and processes into

Business language that can be understood and

correctly acted upon. This drive in demand has

dramatically increased the remuneration that CISO’s

receive, however the size of the organisation does

have a substantial effect on the salary offered.

The final trend that we have noted is a growing

interest in the human aspect of information security.

Technology alone cannot entirely secure an

organisation’s information security, as the human

aspect of an organisation needs to be taken into

consideration. We and other commentators have

found that organisations are increasingly sharing

cyber security threat intelligence reports with their

staff to inform and boost compliance of information

security standards.

The first trend that we foresee is a continuation in

the increase in the number of detected attacks that

businesses report, as well as a change in the types

of tactics used to attempt to breach information and

cyber security defences. We also predict an

increase in the number of attacks that rely on or

include a human element.

The second trend that we are seeing within the

market is the break out of smaller, more niche

information security and cyber security companies.

We predict that the information and cyber security

sector will follow in the Banking Sector’s shoes, as it

looks extremely unlikely that the static large

solutions vendors will be on the cutting edge of

information and cyber security five years from now.

But rather, nimble start-ups and small and medium

sized tech companies will be at the cutting edge.

Our third and final prediction for the future of

information security is the growing importance of

authentication and identity management within the

information security space. With increased spending

in the information security space also comes the

need to ensure that this increased security doesn’t

impair the business’ ability to operate and

communicate internally and externally.

Technology Updates

London The FinTech Capital

of The World 2016Open Business Council

Will 2016 be the year fintech

goes mainstream?Wealth Wizards

UK Fintech Survey for 2016Silicon Valley Bank

Miranda Zhao is by her own admission a small, young looking women. But

her physical appearance belies the courage and determination its taken her to

succeed during her twenty years working in a ferociously competitive and male-

dominated industry. A fierce advocate for workplace diversity, Miranda has

faced many professional challenges during her path to success.

When it comes to the topic of diversity, one of the biggest issues is the

assumptions made by others based on gender, on race, or any number of

things that make us different from one another. For Miranda, one of the

challenges that she has faced throughout her career is not only gender or

heritage-based but instead, her stature. Blessed with genes that make her look

younger than her years, and a height that hovers around 5ft, her appearance

masks sharp analytical and financial mind. She is often told: “You’re smaller

than your voice.”

Miranda explains: “Where it worked against me is very subtle but very powerful.

I’m very small despite my voice. I’m 43 and I’ve had 20 years of work

experience but the first impression is that I look young and don’t have that much

experience.”

She has experience in spades, however, first at Deutsche Bank, where she

worked in the securitization team and the derivatives team, then onto a director

position at CitiBank. Following that, Head of Department, Market and Liquidity

Risk Management at Erste Bank, before her current position at Lloyds. Her

experience, as wide ranging and successful as it is, has been an opportunity to

capitalise on her unique skills and talents. She credits her background – part of

a family of entrepreneurs in Shanghai – with the career outlook that has got her

to where she is today, a proactive approach to managing her own

professional experiences and being open-minded enough to explore different

career choices.

The Benefit of Experience

Miranda recently spoke about her early years and her career so far at a

Lloyds Banking panel event titled: “Cultural Difference - Opportunity Not

Barrier”. Musing on the fact that every member of the panel began their talk

by outlining their early years, Miranda notes why diversity is so important: “It

is our education, upbringing, and environment that impacts other spaces, and

how we make decisions for ourselves. This then translates into how we

approach work and solving problems at work.”

In Miranda’s case, that background includes arriving in America aged nine,

having been brought up in Shanghai by her grandparents (her mother had

already emigrated, paving the way for the rest of the family to join).

As if the transformation itself – from Maoist China and its many avenues of

oppression, to a country where freedom is enshrined in the constitution –

wasn’t enough of an adjustment, Miranda spoke no English. “It made me

very observant,” she notes. But much more than that, it gave Miranda skills

that would benefit her throughout her career.

Let’s take negotiating as an example, a required skill in the financial industry.

Miranda says that her upbringing and early experiences gave her the skill of

empathy, something which she brings to the negotiating table: “It could be

that I am negotiating with somebody who has a very different point of view

from me, so my first port of call is to try and understand where they’re coming

from and why they’re formulating their views. I start to pay much more

attention as to why they have a different opinion, as opposed to talking over

them so that they come to my way of thinking. I think it puts the whole

negotiation on a better footing. If you don’t approach a discussion with an

empathetic manner, then you’re going to be defensive all the time and you’re

going to be arguing from the get go. Nine out of ten times it works - the only

time it doesn’t is when the other person doesn’t want to hear your point of

view at all.”

An Inspirational Role Model – Miranda ZhaoMiranda Zhao is Managing Director in the Financial Institutional Business at Lloyds Banking Group “We want people

to foster their

own ideas and

do things in a

different way.”

Miranda Zhao is a Managing Director in the

Financial Institutional Business at Lloyds

Banking Group, responsible for coverage of

Private Equity Fund clients, UK. Prior to joining

Lloyds Banking Group, Miranda’s journey

included a consulting role in New York, a decade

trading and structuring financial products in both

London and New York, and a portfolio

management role in Central Eastern Europe.

Work/Life Balance

Finding a work/life balance for anyone in the financial services industry is a

challenge, particularly in investment banking, where ‘facetime’ is so important.

A heavily pregnant Miranda simply had to state that if she left work ‘early’ it

was for the benefit of her and her unborn baby: “For me it’s really important

that I take care of myself and most people are sympathetic to that. It does

mean that you are not on the fast track to promotions or bonuses but that’s a

personal choice you make. I returned to work after nine months because I

really wanted to.”

That said, Miranda’s next career move was borne from a desire to have more

flexibility in her work. She admits that a commercial bank was never on her

radar, but having been approached about a position at Lloyds, and having

completed due diligence on the company, she felt that Lloyds represented the

perfect opportunity for the next step in her career, as well as a move back to

London. Part of that was down to its forward-thinking culture. “I wanted to

refocus more time on the personal aspect, so I took a shift into a different

work environment. It didn’t mean I worked less, I travelled a ton, but when I

didn’t travel I could work from home. I think all the banks are publicizing the

same language [regarding diversity and inclusion] but I wonder how many of

the big top investment banks really believe in it. If you’re interviewing for a role

you’ve got to dig deep and find out what the real culture is.”

Fostering The Right Culture

Diversity begins and ends with the right culture, but how is that created? “I

think if you want to create a successful and diverse environment, you have to

allow people to make mistakes without fear of repercussion; a supportive

environment for people to speak up. I try to make sure I speak less. I see my

job and my role as someone who is planting a seed, watering it and giving it

enough sun, flowering an idea, letting it grow. The idea is to encourage the

team to speak. There is a balance to be achieved obviously, because we don’t

want a free for all, but we want people to have their own ideas and do things

in a different way.

As a leader, I have to appreciate that one person cannot be an expert on all

matters and therefore a strong team culture with acceptance for different

ideas creates the best long term outcome .”

Role Models

Miranda cites role models from her own mother – a strong and very driven

woman who eschewed pity for a forward-looking and optimistic approach and

a real pride in her past and heritage – to an autobiographical reference in Ms.

Sonia Sotomayor who is the first Latina Supreme Court Justice. But work

colleagues have also become role models for Miranda: “There were people

that I used to work with and in particular, line managers who broke my

notions of what was acceptable in terms of I&D and agility. It would make

such a difference when my manager was empathetic to my need to juggle a

gruelling work schedule along with a young family. By approaching me with a

suggested “why don’t you work from home“ he opened up that discussion

first and made it acceptable. It got me thinking: why don’t I do that with my

team?”

Having risen successfully through the ranks, does she consider herself a role

model? “I try to be. I certainly never tell people you can have it all at the

same time. I am transparent, when I have to leave early for a doctor’s

appointment or if there’s a school play for my son I just coordinate my diary

and do it. I have given my team access to my diary and whereabouts. There

are nights where I will work late from home to catch up. For me, it’s about

what people deliver, not how long they spend at their desk.”

Within her own sphere, things are moving in the right direction, but there is

more to be done: “We could do with more women and men who have

multiple obligations in the front line leading, we don’t have enough. That

would pave the way for more working families, people with elderly care

obligations and generally a more supportive environment.

“Banking remains one of the most fascinating places to work as the industry

continues to evolve. There are many competencies to learn irrespective if

you are on the front line, risk or operational functions. One has to be

judicious with diversifying one’s experiences and keep learning.”

Did you enjoy reading this article? Please send us your feedback or

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An Inspirational Role Model – Miranda Zhao“Banking

remains one of

the most

fascinating

places to work.”

Quantitative AnalyticsSince the turn of the year, activity in the front office

has been relatively quiet if we look at trends on a

year-on-year basis. There are a number of reasons

for this but the two we have identified is the weak

performances from banks in the fourth quarter of

2015 (limiting capital to invest in new exploration

projects) and the anxious nature of board level

executives on the upcoming Brexit referendum. As

we have progressed further into the year and

volatility in the markets has somewhat decreased,

there has been a steady increase in hiring in a few

pockets across the front office including FX, equities

and electronic trading teams. Areas such as credit

and rates have been continually scaled back at

many investment banks resulting in further

redundancies or redeployment within the bank.

Following bonus period a large portion of the

workforce have been left disappointed with their

compensation and the trend of receiving zero bonus

has become commonplace in a handful institutions.

This of course has created a problem in itself

coupled with many banks freezing hiring, as those

starting to consider opportunities and explore the

market have found the volume and quality of the

opportunities has drastically declined in a much

more competitive market.

There has been strong demand for risk analytics

experience as we have progressed into Q2. The

budgets allocated to FRTB have channelled an

increased appetite in those with market risk,

counterparty risk, and exposure management and

valuation methodology experience. Projects within

this area specifically are drawing attention to

candidates from many walks of life including front

office traders, quants and structurers who are eager

to realign their skill sets to other relevant, stable

career paths.

The buy side is also a far more attractive proposition.

Instead of being given a particular set of tasks that

require quants to use derivative pricing and

stochastic calculus in the same way over and over

again buy side quants are focusing on alpha

generation and constructing quantitative strategies.

Less regulation means more freedom to design and

work on the more complex mathematical models that

seem to be a thing of the past in the front office.

One market trend that is becoming more apparent is

fresh PHD grads opting to explore the likes of G-

Research, KCG, Exane and Fidelity opposed to

names like Barclays, Bank of America and Societe

Generale, and why wouldn’t they? Less regulation

means not only the chance to work on more

extravagant models but also make more extravagant

money due to little to no bonus caps.

Systematic Quant Market - Buy SideSince the start of 2016 everything has been very

slow in hiring on the buy side, particularly for senior

hires, but we are now starting to see more

movement on the junior side. There is a very high

demand for exceptional PhD students at the moment

who are looking to make a move into industry.

Speaking to clients this seems to be because so long

as they have the mathematical and technical ability

then firms would prefer to hire juniors and train them

up - particularly for research positions.

There is a high demand for those with a technical

background. If their PhD includes programming

experience in C++ / Python, or an internship in

development then this is preferable across

systematic trading firms. Equally, if they have

completed an MSc in Computer Science prior to their

PhD then this is also in high demand among many

firms at the moment. We suspect that this is due to

the need for Quants to come in and be involved in

everything from the data analysis right through to

execution which requires strong technical skills.

There are now many firms who will only look to hire

someone who can carry out the full lifecycle.

Due to the regulations on the sell side, we are

seeing an increasing amount of candidates looking

to join the buy side meaning it is extremely

competitive.

While throughout 2015 our main competition

seemed to be people joining places such as

Facebook and Google. This does not appear to be

the case at the moment, and the main competition

seems to be coming from candidates looking to join

small start-up firms or creating start-ups

themselves.

Salaries for a junior quant are ranging between

£70k and £100k. In 2015 salaries would often be

around £65k, but we haven’t seen that this year, so

looks like they are slowly rising at this competitive

time.

Front Office Updates We digest the latest updates in your market

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interested in money – but can

they be trusted?Guardian

To celebrate International Women’s Day

Huxley’s parent company, SThree hosted an

event where women from across the business

came together to discuss the issues that affect

them and hear from our Managing Partner

Natasha Clarke and Remi Olajoyegbe, an

external speaker and former Equity Syndicate

Head at Goldman Sachs and Renaissance

Capital.

Natasha spoke of the importance of celebrating

women’s achievements in the workplace;

encouraging women to be open and proud of

their skills and successes, as well as promoting

a “take charge” attitude in regard to their own

careers. Remi followed by revealing her story in

fascinating detail and extolling the need for

women to explore and celebrate their self-worth

in the workplace, by embracing their identities.

At the end of an inspirational day that’s it hoped

will the first of its kind and may be opened to

women from other industries, Gary Elden –

CEO of SThree, stated how critical it was that

women are encouraged to grow, develop and

advance within the workplace, to ensure

companies create a true meritocracy and build

an equal and diverse workforce.

Watch our women in the workplace series by

clicking on the links to the right. If you

would like to discuss Diversity within your

organisation, please contact Ami Fakey on

020 7469 5050.

Celebrating International Women’s Day Huxley and SThree show the way and celebrate what women bring to the workforce

How women can empower themselves -

Women's Day at SThree

One mother’s journey back to work –

Amendeep Fakey

Natasha Clarke and external speaker Remi

Olajoyegbe share their experiences of how to

get ahead and tips on how women can empower

themselves and take control of their futures.

Click to watch.

Working mum Amendeep Fakey shares her

story about returning to work after maternity

leave and how she's balancing her successful

career with her family life.

Click to watch.

AccountancyThe accountancy space has been relatively quiet

with most activity in around change programmes

within the banks, who have been hiring finance

business partners to support the cost base of large

scale transformation.

We believe there will be an increase in demand

within the regulatory space is we approach the mid

year with the focus on Basel III, PRA returns,

Solvency II and other regulatory reports to the FCA

and Bank of England.

OperationsThe current trend in the market is offshoring back

office to the likes of Poland and India to drive down

overheads. Additionally many businesses have been

making acquisitions which will lead to more investor

operations roles.

2016 was supposed to be a good year for hedge

funds in comparison to 2015 but the European

market remains uncertain and we don’t expect that

to change until after the UK EU referendum. The U.S

seems to be a target area for Hedge Funds in 2016.

A notable trend is the increasing relocation of

operation by several companies - BAML have

moved back office to Chester with the possible view

to offshore in the future. HSBC will be sending more

people to Birmingham and so will Barclays. These

changes will probably lead to more oversight roles

for firms with offshore back office teams. But it’s

likely that we’ll see back office positions returning to

the UK and a rise in hires at junior level for broad

operations roles.

As can be expected with operations the strategy

often changes, so we expect this will follow along the

current trend over the next 6 months with some firms

implementing new strategies post referendum.

Finance UpdatesInsight and intelligence on your markets

Retail Credit RiskSince January 2016, things have been moving slowly

in Retail Credit Risk. There has been a high demand

for people with IFRS9, SAS Modelling, Credit

Analytics, Credit Risk reporting, SAP, PD & LGD

Modelling, Scorecard Modelling, Portfolio Analysis

and Credit Risk oversight skill sets.

The suggestion is that this demand is primarily from

Challenger Banks who are due to implement IFRS9

legislation in the latter months of 2016. Measures

are already being put in place in preparation for the

enforcement of this legislation and hence the surge

in demand for these Hot Skills. A similar trend has

been identified in asset finance, wealth management

and asset management who are also implementing

this change.

Feedback from candidates in possession of these

skill sets suggests that Top Tier institutions (e.g.

HSBC, Lloyds) provide a sound platform to gain a lot

of expertise in a short space of time. They do

however find themselves leaving after 12-18 months

due to project end and little or no room for internal

progression; assumption being due to internal hiring

freezes.

Movement in the market in the first quarter has been

quite slow but with the introduction of IFRS9, RBC is

expected to build out their Credit Risk team at all

levels in their Wealth Management division. Lloyds

on the other hand has seen a significant downsize

with 300 Credit Risk job cuts, 110 specifically within

Retail and Property finance. BAML is due to hand

their entire Wealth Management division over to

Julius Bayer with the last sign off to be completed on

30th June, thus moving the entire process out of

London and to their regional offices.

Product ControlAt best, hiring has slowed down, if not halted, due to

several factors affecting the industry all together.

The primary factor being Brexit. Most bulge bracket

Banks and Asset Managers are cautious about

hiring due to the volatile conditions created by the

uncertainty of the decision. Furthermore, sell side

firms still continue to face the dangers of an

increase in costs affected by the implementation of

Mifid II.

Within the IPV and Product Control space, most

banks are moving toward offshoring most of the PnL

functions to deal with restrained cost measures

being implemented across the industry. While this

move seems to be the more popular decision to

deal with costs, there are doubts over the long-term

sustainability of this particular strategy.

Hiring across the industry is forecast to remain low,

evidenced by consolidation of offices across the

globe and a strong reduction in the workforce

across the industry.

AuditThe FS internal audit trends in the UK have slowed,

once again this is seen as a waiting game until the

outcome of decision on the EU exit is known.

The bigger banks tend to lead the flow in the audit

space and none have been going into huge

recruitment drives. A key player in the audit space

was looking to increase by 10% but has currently

put that on hold, due to a business line re-

organisation while other banks are at present either

looking to downscale slightly or keep to the same

levels.

Why are UK banking jobs

moving out of London?Huxley

Calling time on the gender pay

gap Huxley

ComplianceThe compliance market has been relatively quiet

across Q2. Reasons for this include current market

conditions within the sell side of the banking sector,

the UK EU referendum, fewer new regulations that

require additional resource and lastly, there has

been a big push for internal mobility.

We have seen a higher level of roles across financial

crime compliance as opposed to regulatory

compliance. For financial crime compliance there

has been a constant request for candidates with a

strong background in sanctions given the recent

relaxation of rules with Iran. Across regulatory

compliance, there have been a number of roles that

have come from the buy side.

There is a certain nervous undertone surrounding

the EU referendum. A large number of hiring

managers across medium and large banks have

indicated that they will wait for the EU referendum

results before making any non-critical hires.

Reg/MIFID IIThere has been a mild slowdown in the market due

to the implementation date being put back, however,

there is still a large number of contractual positions

within the market due the breath of changes that are

required for businesses to be compliant with the new

regulation.

We’re also seeing a large number of businesses

using consultancies (Big 4) for gap analysis before

getting regulatory change professionals in to

complete the suggested changes.

On February 11th the European Commission

confirmed the delay in the implementation of the

directive across the European Union, stating “it was

to take into account of the exceptional technical

implementation challenges faced by regulators and

market participants”. This means that MiFID 2 will

now apply from 3rd January 2018. A spokesperson

from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) added it

wanted a successful implementation of the new rules

and part of this means “having a realistic

implementation timetable for both regulators and

firms”. Also stating, “despite the delay, firms need to

continue to press ahead with their implementation

work. There’s still a lot for them to do to be ready in

time for the new implementation date”. This

sentiment was also shared by Harry Eddis, a

financial-regulation partner at Linklaters, who

suggested that while the delay is welcomed, the

industry as a whole still faces a race against the

clock to get everything in place before the deadline.

Due to the nature of the skills shortage in regulatory

work, a large proportion of the hiring in relation to

MiFID 2 is contract based. As contractual work is

more lucrative for contractors with these niche skills.

contract hires tend to be for between six and twelve

months depending on the type and size of the

business and the seniority of the position. There is a

small amount of permanent hiring, but this makes up

a very limited percentage of regulatory hiring in

relation to MiFID 2 and is focused on the more

senior end of the spectrum, with a number of large

institutions choosing to hire some Project Directors

and Project Managers on a permanent basis, to

ensure continuity of product delivery.

In reference to Business Analysts (BA’s) and Project

Managers (PM’s), they tend to be either business or

technically focused, with the technical aspects

relating to the IT and reporting systems. These

business centric or technically focused teams are

normally either interwoven or interworking,

depending on the regulatory team’s structure within

the company.

Due to the number of changes proposed by MiFID

2, regulatory teams need to communicate with

upper and lower management, traders and back

office staff, as well as producing Technical

Functionality Specifications, including, designing

and modifying reporting and recording systems.

Hence the requirements for both business and

technically focused BA’s and PM’s.

In terms of regulatory experience, as MiFID 2 is yet

to come into force, hiring is done in relation to

previous regulatory implementation experience.

Often regulatory specialists have experience with

the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer

Protection Act (Dodd Frank) or the European Market

Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR). This is due to the

large effect both regulations had on the Financial

Markets, which gives the regulatory specialists the

necessary experience in the large scale reforms that

are required for compliance with MiFID 2.

Even though the MiFID 2 implementation date has

now been put back, we don’t expect hiring for MiFID

2 compliance to slow down. We believe that it is

likely that the FCA will reduce the grace period, or

even have no grace period at all after the regulation

has come into force, as business now has extra time

to ensure compliance. Also, due to the number of

regulations that require large scale changes for

compliance with MiFID 2 we expect hiring to

continue at its current pace for at least the next 12

months, keeping contractor’s day rates at a similar

level.

Compliance UpdatesInsight and intelligence on your markets

Solvency II Predictor

Huxley

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Quarterly Newsletter

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