A hiring slowdown at banks in Asia is beginning to thaw, driven by demand for coders. Lenders including DBS Group, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp, and Citigroup are adding workers to their tech departments in the region despite the economic downturn. Financial institutions are especially hungry for mobile app designers and data scientists who can build systems to crunch figures and move business online, recruiters say.
“Demand is strong — a lot of the talent we talk to have a few offers on hand from the finance sector,” said Hubert Tam, a managing partner at recruitment firm Sirius Partners in Hong Kong. “While other hiring can wait, tech is not just something that you can pull the plug on. The systems need to keep running.”