Around the World: Reasons to be cheerful (and pessimistic) about 2012

Upgrading, cash bonuses, Russian banks, liquidity management jobs: reasons to be cheerful about 2012

Barely has a year been anticipated with such trepidation. Eschatological Mayan prophecies aside, there’s a clear reason to be fearful about the coming 12 months. If the eurozone somehow holds together and markets are somehow becalmed, 2012 could be OK. If the eurozone doesn’t hold together and there’s a messy fissuring of the single currency, 2012 could be considerably worse than 2008. [Belgium]

RBS, European banks, zero bonuses: reasons to be especially pessimistic about 2012

What about reasons to feel pessimistic? Needless to say, there are many. As Pimco’s Mohammed El Arian suggested in December, banks appear to be facing secular decline, especially in sales and trading. The danger now is not only that the eurozone splits up, it’s that European economies suffer years of lackluster or negative GDP growth. As Goldman Sachs pointed out in a presentation in November, GDP has a multiplier effect on banking revenues: low GDP growth means low revenue growth. Low revenue growth means low hiring and layoffs. Within this context, what more specific reasons are there to be depressed about what may be coming in 2012? [UK]

2011: What went up and what went down in the Nordic financial services job market?

Based on conversations with specialist financial services recruiters and our own research, here’s our considered opinion on how 2011 panned out in the Nordic region. [Denmark]

Risk, retrenchments and the reluctant job seeker: A review of the Japan job market in 2011

Here’s our look at the year that was in Japan. One key 2011 trend is the rising demand for talent in risk, compliance, audit and internal control. Layoffs have also been another major development in the Japanese job market this year. [Japan]

From quants to contractors: A review of the Australian job market in 2011

Here’s our look at the year that was in Australia. Banks weren’t afraid to replace current employees with higher-skilled talent this year. Some of the most critical, complex and dynamic quant roles at Australian banks were offshored to Manila in 2011. [Australia]

South Africa: what was hot and what was not in 2011

While two-thirds of Sub-Saharan African countries have returned to pre-crisis growth levels in 2011, South Africa has been stuck at 3 percent GDP growth. Politically the country has been directionless; the economy has underperformed and unemployment has risen further. In this context, while spectacular banking results have been few and far between, the financial services sector has once again performed above par. In a very mixed picture, some have done better than others. We have picked some winners and some losers. [South Africa]

Presenting the 10 most popular articles on eFinancialCareers Singapore in 2011

These are the blogs you couldn’t get enough of this year, the ones with the highest traffic numbers. So sit back and relive the drama of the 2011 job market through the eyes of eFinancialCareers.sg and its commentators. [Singapore]