Risk Management – Recruitment Market Insights – June 2024

• The recruitment market for all risk managers has been subdued throughout H1 2024 and this was felt particularly sharply in Q2 2024.
• The general election was a contributing factor, however, a slowing global economy, high inflation and high interest rates have been more significant factors.
• Banks are well capitalised, but revenue growth is presenting a challenge meaning costs need to be managed. As such several banks have announced redundancies that will impact credit departments, with roles being both off-shored and near-shored to lower cost locations.
• Consolidation in the UK retail banking sector is also having an impact on hiring volumes, which could lead to redundancies and an increase in candidate supply in the future as companies are merged.
• Higher levels of activity within the IRB modelling space. Driven by the IRB repair programme and IRB aspirant banks increasing headcount.
• There has been less activity in model risk, at least in the UK, which is surprising given the recent go live of SS 1/23. Some resourcing is taking place offshore, bur several banks plan to expand UK teams.
• Risk departments are under resourced, yet many firms have a hiring freeze. At best, they have to go through several layers of approval to recruit via agency.
• There has been a demand for those with third-party risk experience. This is due to several reasons. Organisations are increasingly outsourcing various functions and services to third-party vendors to improve efficiency, reduce costs, and focus on core competencies. This reliance on external partners raises concerns about managing risks associated with these third parties. Recent UK Resilience regulations and DORA have also impacted demand.
• Non-Financial Risk (NFR) candidates with product experience are hard to find. Getting into product details is usually not an NFR prerequisite. When recruiting Individuals for clearing houses and exchanges, an understanding of the processes around risk models is necessary to be successful in the role.
• Market Risk Bonuses have also been down in the range of 20-40% from 2023.
• Some sectors have been busier than others with Commodities leading the way. This has been driven largely due to market volatility from Ukraine/Russia and the Middle East.

Anton Berou

Head of Risk
ab@barclaysimpson.com
020 7936 8907

Josh Lawson

Senior Director Market Risk
jl@barclaysimpson.com
020 7936 8909

Please reach out if you would like advice on hiring in the risk sector.
Barclay Simpson has over 20 years of experience of hiring in this space, and we can offer deep insight into how the market is changing and how to secure the best candidates.