Market Update & Salary Guide: Governance 2017

2016 - 2017 Recruitment Overview:

Over the last financial year, we've seen a strong surge in Risk, Compliance and Audit recruitment within Sydney and across the Australian Financial Services market. Ultimately this boils down to the growing pressures faced by organisations to adhere to stricter regulations set by the likes of ASIC, APRA and AUSTRAC, as well as global company policy for the international organisations.

Risk, Compliance & Audit:

The Risk and Compliance space has seen an increase of 22% in advertised positions here in Australia for the first half of 2017 compared to that of the same time last year, while the Audit space has seen an increase, but only at 12% over that time.

Compliance:

Roles within Compliance and the Regulatory space have been a key growth area for recruitment within the financial services industry over the past 12 months, however there is a real shortage of skilled Retail Banking or Wealth Management professionals specifically at the more senior levels. This has resulted in hiring managers starting to tap into a fresh pool of candidates (“Returning Aussies”) who are looking to make the move back home from stints working over in Europe, Asia or even America. With the overseas regulators having more progressive policies set in place, these candidates are more adapt and have the skillset and experience to assist with the upcoming changes.

Financial Crime:

Financial Crime Compliance recruitment doesn’t seem to be slowing down either, with many organisations growing their headcount to stay on top of Money-Laundering/Counter-Terrorism Financing risks that could potentially occur resulting in substantial fines like that seen already on various occasions earlier in the year. The investigations space is one that continues to require experienced investigators across all levels here in Australia and this seems to be a trend occurring on a global scale.  

Risk:

Risk Management has seen plenty of activity this past financial year, with not only a push for Credit Risk professionals but also a significant increase in the creation of Operational Risk roles to combat newly created regulations. There’s been a strong emphasis on finding professionals who specialise and have experience within 1st or 2nd line risk, as the larger organisations are now creating more specific functions to stay on top of the changes.

Audit:

Audit isn’t a large market here in Australia and trends seem to be comparable to last year, with most of the recruitment taking place due to replacement hires. Some of the larger international banks have been forced to grow their functions due to regulatory scrutiny, however we are also finding that due to managing internal expenses and a difficulty in gaining headcount approval, there has been an increase in the temporary relocation of internal staff from other global branches to stay on top of larger projects.

The highest volume of roles within the Governance space over the past financial year have been at the manager level with salaries generally ranging from $115,000 - $160,000. This increase in recruitment is due to a better governed industry, with risk mitigation a key agenda across the Financial Services. We have also seen that Investment Banking typically pay up to 10k more on average, compared to similar positions within the Retail Banking sector.

Brexit and Candidate Relocation:

Prior to Brexit, candidate movement between the UK and Australia would see generally 60% of professionals moving over to UK and 40% making the move back home. Post Brexit referendum however, we have seen a complete reversal of these figures with now 70% of professionals returning to the Australian market. This seems to ultimately correlate to the uncertainty faced within the London market. 

VISA Changes 2017:

It remains to be seen how the recent visa restrictions placed here in Australia will affect the market from a recruitment perspective. In recent weeks, the government have outlined the plan to tighten up the availability of overseas workers gaining approval for visa’s to work here in Australia. Ultimately their aim is to no longer grant new 457 visa’s that could potentially hinder local citizens at competing for the same jobs. Australia has always had a large pool of professionals who are expats, so it will be interesting to see the effect of all this going forward.

Salary Increases & Bonuses 2017:

Whilst not everyone is receiving an annual salary increase, most people are averaging between 2-4% pa. It all seems to be a result of inflation and the competitive marketplace, ultimately forcing employers to reward their staff. Bonuses in 2017 have seen a similar trend to the previous year. This appears it does come down to where you work and how the company has performed, rather than just an individual’s personal performance. The larger banks, both domestic and international all seem to pay similar.

Salary Guide Sydney 2017 - Permanent Hires:

Compliance / Risk Management / Internal Audit