Risk techies' new popularity means premium pay packets
Financial institutions' ongoing need to build and replace risk management computer systems is creating a sustained peak for such IT expertise. As a result, there's a battle for technical talent and salaries have risen exponentially over the last six months.
The world's top 100 financial companies are set to shell out $100bn on risk activities this year as a result of the financial crisis and regulatory requirements, according to a recent survey by Deloitte. A decent proportion of this is likely to be spent on upgrading and replacing computer systems.
As we've alluded to before both banks and technology vendors are looking to bolster their teams. Now, however, risk techies are able to command a premium.
Oliver Hinchliffe, team leader in the IT division of recruiters Project Partners, says: "We're working with investment banks which have informed me that salary bandings do not apply to the risk area. There's fierce competition, candidates often have multiple offers and banks have to be creative about compensation."
Regulation like Basel II and Solvency II, as well as governmental pressure around banks' risk exposures, is driving a need for firms to improve their data quality through investing in IT infrastructure. And this is heating up.
"We've moved from the situation six months ago where a few firms were hiring, to where just about everyone is looking to recruit for risk," adds James Richmond, sales director at IT in finance recruiter Cititec. "It's particularly competitive at the senior end - project managers, programme managers and senior business analysts are all needed."
Hinchliffe says that developers with good business knowledge are being offered 110k, while Richmond suggests that project and programme managers can earn 140-150k - or around 20% more than the same period in 2009.
It's not just the banks that are aiming to recruit, suggests Brent Harris, head of UK permanent recruitment at Aston Carter.
"Effectively, you have investment banks, technology vendors and consultancies all chasing after a limited talent pool of professionals within the risk management technology space, and all are willing to pay a significant premium," he says
