Dressing up, dumbing down

Finding suitable talent to staff the growing private banking markets in Asia has always been a challenge. But recently the problem has become so acute that some industry observers have discerned a new hiring trend among banks.

Private banking bonanza prompts difficult decisions “The typical Asian private banking client is mid-40s, male and smart,” says one insider. “So what you really need as advisers are grey-haired private bankers who’ve been through the cycles. But there aren’t nearly enough of those around and meanwhile you’re growing at 30% per annum.”

Faced with a chronic human resource shortage, banks have come up with a neat solution. Since the private banking model in Asia is overwhelmingly advisory and Asian clients tend to be extremely market savvy, banks have found a new source of talent to tap, a strategy dubbed a little unkindly by one practitioner as the ‘private banking girlie model’.

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