Technologists: How to become an iPhone guru
The imperative for financial firms to offer an iPhone, iPad or Android application across a broad range of services is gathering pace. But, is this really likely to provide career opportunities to techies and, if so, what does it take to secure such a position?
Deutsche Bank this week unveiled its iPhone and iPad app related to its global prime finance division, which offers users access to margin information and portfolio analysis tools.
Similarly, the likes of TD Ameritrade and E-Trade's apps allow trading, as well as research and account management functionality. Morgan Stanley has uploaded its equity and economic research into both Apple and Android products.
Deutsche hired a team to develop its application in-house, but this doesn't necessarily mean a rush of recruitment is on the cards if more firms decide to roll out these applications.
"Banks are in two camps when it comes to developing mobile applications," says Chris Potter, technology assurance partner at PwC. "Some are employing developers to build the applications in-house, while many are outsourcing it to a third-party. Especially where such development is outsourced, it's really important that the resulting applications meet the bank's security standards."
Certainly, in the consumer banking space much of the work is being carried out by external agencies. HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group, Royal Bank of Scotland and Standard Chartered, for instance, have had mobile applications provided by Monitise.
Mike Keyworth, chief information officer at the firm, says its technical team need to be versed in Apple's mobile operating system, iOS, as well as Android, Nokia Ovi and Windows Phone technology.
"Our staff are drawn from a wide range of backgrounds, not just banks, software houses or mobile businesses," he says "We have a healthy mix of industry veterans, entrepreneurs and highly skilled graduates."
The good news is that investment banks and capital markets firms are beginning to hire techies in this space. However, it's unlikely you'll be focusing purely on developing iPhone apps - banks are demanding familiarity with iPhone, Blackberry and Android applications, which requires an understanding of both C languages and Java.
These roles typically pay around 70k, suggest recruitment sources.
Obviously, an understanding of multiple programming languages isn't unheard of within the financial IT world. However, this isn't the biggest issue when hiring for these (currently small crop of) roles, suggests Mark Warburton, partner and sales director at IT in finance recruiters 752 Solutions.
"A lot of the people with a depth of experience in these applications are used to working in a very entrepreneurial environment, where they're at the cutting edge of new developments. Working in the rigid hierarchical setting of a bank can be a huge cultural shift, so it's likely financial services firms will have to pay over the odds to get them onboard," he says.
