Around the World: South African retail banks hiring this year, while equities gigs in Asia are down

Hey boss: Your Gen Y staff probably hate you – here are five things you should do now to stop them quitting

I wish I could confront every head of HR and manager and tell them to wake up and rethink how they are managing the generation Y employees under their wings. So here are five things that, boss, I would like you to know. [Singapore]

The new nightmare for financial services recruiters in London: the defensive job applicant

On one hand, it might seem like a wonderful thing: all of sudden, the number of people sending in resumes for jobs in investment banks has gone through the roof. On the other hand, a growing number of these people are "defensive applicants" – people sending in resumes just in case. The result is a lot more work for recruiters, who are now obliged to spend time sifting through the resumes of people who don’t really intend to move. [UK]

There will still be big retail bank hiring in South Africa this year

Christine Lagarde was in South Africa at the weekend for her first visit since taking the helm at the International Monetary Fund. She is not usually lavish with her praise, but she did laud South Africa’s economic performance, describing it as "impressive." The strength and soundness of the financial sector, she said, had mitigated the negative effects of the economic slowdown and more recently the eurozone crisis. [South Africa]

The rise of reinsurers

According to a report by Aon Benfield, aggregate reinsurance premiums in China have almost grown more than 70 percent compared with five years ago. Moreover, with the China Insurance Regulatory Commission’s most recent five-year plan including a national natural disaster risk transfer program, as well as the improvement of loss models and underlying data, the reinsurance market is expected to grow rapidly and this will generate jobs. [China]

The sharks are starting to circle key RBS Middle East staff

RBS is radically downsizing its investment bank globally, so it’s inevitable that its Middle East operation will be affected. While the actual job losses will be minimal, headhunters are looking to prise out key staff unsettled by the shake-up. [Middle East]

Redundancies and hardly any jobs: It’s an anxious start to 2012 for Asian equities

Asian equities has been a rather unpopular and depressing place to work in of late. Last week, RBS announced significant cuts to its equities division across Hong Kong, Singapore and Japan, along with plans to sell off its Asian cash-equities operations. Spain’s BBVA has also downsized its equity derivatives team from 26 to 12 in Hong Kong, reports AsianInvestor. [Hong Kong]