If you're working on a regulatory tech project, you're in a very sturdy position
It's a slightly strange phenomenon that, despite the technology challenges posed by a raft of regulations hitting financial services firms, few have been willing to recruit IT professionals to work on these projects in any significant numbers.
Instead, the strategy was to re-prioritise; move people away from front office projects on to regulatory related initiatives, make do with what resources were available in-house and simply shuffle people around. Next year, however, it looks like being a different story.
"Both investment banks and retail banks are starting large regulatory-related technology projects and this is finally translating into recruitment," says Paul Bennie, director at IT in finance headhunters Bennie MacLean. "They have to deal with technology challenges around Basel III, Dodd Frank and some of the German banks are facing initiatives from BaFIN. It's presenting opportunities externally, and those currently working on a regulatory project can consider themselves safe currently."
One of the biggest upticks in recent weeks has been the increased recruitment of technologists for pre-emptive work around the potential implementation of 'living wills', or ensuring an orderly wind-down in the event of a large bank's collapse.
“In hiring terms this is reminiscent of MiFID, but on a much larger scale and the project teams are looking at plans to meet both current and anticipated regulatory requirements," says Ed Ekins, head of the financial services technology practice at Twenty Recruitment. "While the detail is still not finalised, it is clear that there will be some regulation around resolution planning – and that needs to be pre-empted."
Not only will working on a regulatory assignment be a safer option next year, but it seems likely that a lot of recruitment for front office IT initiatives will be sacrificed in order to staff up these mandatory projects. Already, in 2011, many technology consultants were suggesting that IT budgets would be stretched by regulatory requirements.
"We are already seeing very strong demand for project and programme managers at VP/director level and, once the department heads are in place, there will be a trickle-down effect on demand lower down the ranks," says Ekins. "Anyone with experience of diagnostics, project planning and implementation around regulatory directives such as MiFID, SOX, Basel or regulations around liquidity management can consider themselves fairly hot property currently."
