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This news service talks to HSBC Private Banking UK about finding, nurturing and retaining talent at a time when the nature of the job continues to change.
As part of our occasional series looking at talent management
topics in the wealth sector, this news service recently spoke to
HSBC Private Banking UK, part of HSBC, and gleaned views from
Peter Barriscale, managing director, head of high net worth, and
James Thomson, MD, head of investment counselling. This is a
topic we continue to cover, so if readers want to share
views or insights on these matters, get in touch. Email the
editor at [email protected]
WealthBriefing: How would you characterise the employment
market in wealth management – is it tight, are there lots of
unfilled vacancies, or is there keen competition for certain
roles?
HSBC Private Banking: In the UK, the private
banking and wealth management employment market remains tight. In
London, in particular, there is a lot of competition for
candidates that can evidence a sustained period of high
performance and client acquisition. This continues to drive fixed
pay higher for new candidates and we see existing employers
working ever harder to retain experienced client-facing talent.
Despite this, we find that HSBC tends to be on candidates” short
list; we are able to differentiate ourselves due to our
culture, our brand and our global proposition. We have very few
unfilled positions.
Recruiting for more specialist roles such as product roles are
harder to fill – they tend to be extremely competitive as we face
competition for talent from non-bank institutional firms as well
as other private banks.
Outside London and the South-East, the pool of talent is smaller
and spread over a greater geography. We are seeing competitors
expand into the Midlands and North of England which is creating
greater competition for talent, and which can elongate the
recruitment process.
Q: Where do you see particularly strong demand and where
have things weakened?
HSBC: We have found that there is a premium for top
talent and that has become even greater. It is increasingly hard
to prize good candidates away from the competition as existing
employers will pay a premium to retain them.
We also find that there is a lot of competition for female
client-facing candidates and in general we see fewer female
applicants compared with their male counterparts.
To counter this, we have deliberately focused on developing our
young talent so that they can transition to a more senior
position when one becomes available. We have defined specific
career pathways for client-facing roles so that we have a
pipeline of talent. We have also established key development
roles across the front office, for example we now align junior
bankers to some of our senior RMs and investment counsellors
providing the opportunity to learn “on the job” with some of our
most talented advisors.
Alongside this we also run a well-established graduate programme
and introduced an apprenticeship programme in the last couple of
years, providing the opportunity to develop and nurture talent at
this junior level.
Q: At a time when there’s much talk of digital change,
how important today is it for RMs, bankers and others to have
lots of technology skills? Is this an area where firms and other
bodies need to invest in training and career development?
HSBC: Technology has undoubtedly become a more
prominent feature of everyone’s roles. We don’t need our
client-facing colleagues to be technology specialists, but they
need to be able to use the technology to do their role.
Ultimately the primary skills we are looking for in client-facing
colleagues is the ability to build relationships and trust. We
have found more recently that our RMs need to understand emerging
technology trends across the economy, so that they are plugged
into opportunities which will affect our clients, many of whom
are business owners.
Q: Another big theme in recent years has been that wealth
management must be less “male, pale and stale.” What in your
view are the challenges in bringing and retaining more women to
the industry, ensuring that they can climb up the hierarchy
and do not drop off after having children, for example? What can
be done to make the sector more appealing and less “stuffy” and
intimidating? At the same time, how can change be made without in
any way compromising on standards, merit, etc?
HSBC: We do a good job of retaining people in the UK
private banking business.
There is a challenge in the industry more broadly in terms of
there being fewer women than men. We run several talent
management programmes for females, and we have a great Employee
Resource Group across HSBC, called Balance which focuses on
supporting women – for example we hold a number of talks, we have
a strong network and also offer coaching for mothers returning
from maternity leave.
From our experience wealth management isn’t as diverse or
inclusive as it could be; it’s not considered an automatic
choice for candidates from diverse socio-economic backgrounds and
therefore we must be more deliberate about how we attract a more
varied group of candidates.
With proactive support from our senior leadership team, we have
sought to enhance the profile of ethnic minority colleagues
within our business and identified the need to increase
engagement in identified minority groups externally. For example,
we have partnered with an external training provider to volunteer
in schools with higher ethnic minority representation – we have
assisted with CV writing, interviews, and career days, and have
also provided external mentoring to support young diverse talent.
Internally, we have formed an Ethnicity Committee Employee
Resource Group, responsible for supporting a dedicated pilot
Sponsorship Programme for black heritage colleagues with a view
to expanding to wider ethnic minorities, which includes a
mentoring programme and an allyship programme.
