In risky times, itís hardly surprising that financial institutions are going to town on risk specialists ñ particularly counterparty risk analysts who can help them ascertain whether the hedge funds and other clients theyíre doing business with are liable to go under.
ìThere has been increased interest but itís been hard to get really good people in the counterparty space,î confirms Luke Heath, managing director of Chandler Heath.
One player said to be keenly scouting for risk specialists is GE Money.
ìGE would hire 20 or 30 of these people if it could find them tomorrow, and they have been looking for three to six months,î David Rolleston of Robert Walters tells eFinancialCareers. ìTheyíre hard to find, and Melbourne doesnít really have a massive portfolio of credit risk candidates in comparison with the Sydney marketplace.î
Melissa Tal of Michael Page says demand in counterparty credit risk has been ìconsistentî, but that the big banks have been placing a higher value on individuals with longer-term experience, such as those who worked through the last major down-cycle in the early 1990s.
ìGood candidates are hard to come by, even in this market,î Tal notes. ìThereís still a skills shortage as thereís not much movement in the top end of the market.î
Rolleston says the main increase in recent times has been in the document checking areas of the large retail banks, due to impending changes in the regulatory environment.
ìItís not only in the risk assessment side, itís coming down the compliance side,î he adds. ìThe big four retail banks are looking to make sure their compliance levels are at the maximum.î
Having a ball with counterparty credit risk
.
