Singapore banking recruiters say the hiring pain may hit after June
In our present Trump-fueled world of tariffs, everything might feel it has a high beta. But while pondering the stocks that flash green or red, spare a thought for the jobs markets that are even more volatile.
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Calm seas never made for good sailors, but recruitment consultant Morgan McKinley's senior director for Singapore, Ken Ong, calls the current situation more of a “tsunami”. For the Singapore jobs' market at least, though, it's a storm that’s still on the horizon. Ong thinks that any hiring impact from tariffs will come later in the year. “There’s a lot of predictions of [the tariff impact] happening in H2, rather than in Q2.” Ong says. If you want to get hired in Singapore, the implication is that you should apply for jobs soon.
It doesn't help that this is an election year in Singapore, with voting due in November. Nor does it doesn’t help that the city-state’s usual staple crops, such as middle- and back-office functions like operations, are also at a more long-term risk. “Those have been very actively offshored to countries like Malaysia and India these last two years. Malaysia specifically,” says Ong.
The Singaporean financial services market is heavily reliant on hiring by big European and US institutions, with Standard Chartered, HSBC, and Deutsche Bank all having major offices in the city. In past downturns, foreign banks have been happy to cut deeper in the city than elsewhere, such as when Citi cut deeply last year - and got rid of more people in Singapore (proportionally) than it did in its New York office.
For the moment, however, plenty of banks are still hiring in Singapore, including Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan, which are looking for experienced investment bankers for its industrials group and commodities traders in the city, respectively.
Non-banks are hiring too. Citadel Securities, for example, just appointed Redha Achour as its head of APAC credit trading there. But the globally integrated nature of the Singaporean economy means the city isn't immune to tariffs imposed on China and elsewhere. The Trump administration only imposed a 10% tariff on Singapore, less than China's 34% or Malaysia's 24%, but it's still an unforeseen hindrance.
If you want to stay employable in Singapore finance, Ong advises becoming an expert in AI or technology, or focusing on high value roles in the front office. He also observes that it helps to be local rather than an expat, and that demand for short term consultants is high.
Singapore is in a "transition phase,” when it comes to expat talent, says Ong. There aren't enough good locals to do some jobs, but expats are less welcome and willing to come than they used to be. This means consultants fill jobs instead. This makes sense when hard decisions must be made because they become "someone else's fault," says Ong, but it's not great if you're looking for full-time employment.
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