Financial Services Technology Recruitment

Financial Services Recruitment

Go back just 12 years and it would be next to impossible to imagine the wholesale change brought about on financial institutions, in particular banks, by the hand of government intervention and regulatory prescription impacting the industry at precisely the same time as the biggest ever technological revolution. The past decade has witnessed the near disappearance of traditional trading functions with physical traders replaced significantly by Algorithms and Data Systems enabling the swathes of regulatory requirements and compliance required by regulators the world over.

The price of non-compliance with the new rule books has been an increase in the cost of capital, simply to do business. Shortcomings being punishable with extra capital costs! Accordingly, the drive has been to build “fit for purpose” Governance functions across Risk Management, Compliance and Finance - focused on topics including Treasury/Liquidity Management; Financial Crime (AML); Policies & Procedures; Risk Modelling; Model Validation; Market, Credit & Operational Risk. Underpinning all of this development is technology, and the need for cutting edge Software Engineers and Computer Scientists. The evolving governance has seen a tidal wave of demand for expertise in systems skills including C++, C#, JAVA, JAVA Script, Python, R, Ruby, Hadoop etc.

A major offshoot has been a burgeoning new industry focused on dealing with all of the associated change and its transition to business as usual. The winners here have been the Management Consultancies who have seen an exponential growth in their business servicing the major Banks and Asset Managers, ranging from advisory through to staff augmentation. In tandem the need for temporary subject matter expertise has led to a significant market of Contractors and Interim Managers able to deliver the relevant subject or systems expertise on a needs be basis.

Rules and regulatory requirements, particularly in the US with Volcker and Dodd Frank, are now synonymous with the industry. Stress testing regimes such as CCAR and the PRA annual requirements are now part of the fabric and normal operations of Banking groups. Moreover, the swathes of regulatory requirements do not stop. Banks and Asset Managers have dealt with MIFIID II, but many now need to deal with the next round of deliverables which amongst other things include FRTB, IHC, margined trading etc.

Perhaps most importantly though, we are clearly in the midst of a revolution – one in which the two major players are Data and Technology. As in almost all areas of business the systems now exist to capture data, make sense of it, use it and retain it, in order to use it again. Data of all kinds; big and small, can now be modelled. Examples in the Financial Services sector range from Automated Trading, to data trade data for Risk Management, as well as Client Data used in Client Onboarding and KYC.

The ultimate manifestation of the revolution is an increased propensity to use the new technology to reduce costs. Therefore we have seen an accelerated use of Fintech solutions offered via vendor based solution providers. These solutions are delivered by cloud or external hardware and include Derivative pricing; outsourced Model Validation, Client Onboarding and KYC, Payments, Reg Reporting, settlements, Collateral with Portfolio Optimisation, Clearing etc. We perceive that large Financial Institutions will in the next few years seek to increasingly reduce their costs bases by using external managed service providers.

At Next Ventures our client base includes all of the participants in the Financial Services space across the buy and sell sides, exchanges and CCPs, and Consultancy and Managed Services. We employ experienced Technology Recruiters experienced in the Financial Markets, as well as a possessing a Financial Services Executive Search subsidiary employing leading sector Headhunters and Industry practitioners.

• Permanent Services
• Contract & Interim Services
• Senior Appointments