EUROPE MARKET COMMENTARY, Q3 2021

INTRODUCTION

With travel restrictions somewhat lifted, Q3 saw people being able to go away again for their summer holidays, this saw a slower rate than usual in interview processes and availability within the market. Clients that acted quickly and were able to adapt quickly managed to secure talent.

As we look forward to face to face meetings, the Europe team at Bruin will be looking to get some face to face meetings with our clients across Europe with Dublin first on the agenda for December this year. If you are open to meeting and discussing the market and candidates, let’s arrange a date to meet. With the continued success of the Risk and Compliance European desk, we have made a new hire, Aminat Muritala, who has joined a fresh graduate to help with our candidate sourcing.

 

Banking:

The investment banks were very active in this period with Governance hires continuing to grow. Heavily regulated roles with exposure in dealing with regulators especially in Frankfurt, Paris and Dublin, were continuous throughout the quarter.

In Paris we saw a lot more senior hires mainly across Compliance, the main requirements were that they needed regulatory experience but a good balance of structure product exposure. The candidate market in this area was thriving and it was surprising to see how active candidates were in this space.

Frankfurt saw further growth of banks building out their Operational Risk and Compliance functions. There was a desire to find candidates with exposure to financial products, mainly fixed income, but the most important part again was the regulatory exposure. The main appetite for these positions were at VP level.

The Private Banking market was busy in Luxembourg with Liquidity Risk and Compliance Advisory roles being prominent. The market in Luxembourg for Liquidity Risk candidates was quite niche, meaning that relocating candidates or being flexible on experience levels was crucial for clients to attract the right talent.

 

Asset Management/Private Equity:

Within Luxembourg, the Risk Manager level or 5-7 years’ experience seems to be causing the most chaos in the market. There are a few factors as to why this is the case, one being the compensation reward of moving jobs to staying.

Candidates are aware of the market conditions for strong Risk Managers with alternatives experience in Luxembourg and know they will be better rewarded by moving companies than staying at the right company and there is consistent evidence backing this statement. The issue being created is that most of these candidates are now pricing themselves out of good opportunities due to their movement.

Risk Managers with experience with Private Equity strategies is the biggest client need in the market across Europe. In the alternatives space there seems to be a lot more profiles with real estate and private debt experience than pure private equity.

The need for Compliance Generalists is very important, regulators across Dublin and Luxembourg are putting more pressure on companies to have bodies on the ground with AML experience and regulatory exposure.

The asset management ongoing debate on DP requirements for Operational and Investment Risk continued. The main question was could one person do both of these roles or should it be split between specific Risk needs. We saw that larger firms were much more keen on having one person responsible for each area at DP level.

 

ROLE PROFILES

  • Liquidity Risk Manager – Luxembourg (Private Banking)
  • Investment Risk Manager – Luxembourg (Private Equity)
  • Risk and Compliance Officer – Luxembourg (Private Debt)
  • MLRO Compliance Officer – Luxembourg (Asset Management)
  • Head of Compliance – Paris (Banking)
  • Interim Compliance Manager – Dublin (Asset Management)
  • DP Operational and Investment Risk – Dublin (Asset Management
  • Compliance Officer – Frankfurt (Banking)

 

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