The newsletter provides updates on various topics: 1) It discusses the relationship between traditional banks and FinTech startups, noting banks face pressure from regulations and competition but some see FinTech as an opportunity. 2) It highlights challenges banks face in recruiting tech talent due to differences from FinTech in hiring speed, benefits, and work culture. 3) It also summarizes updates on technology trends like the growth of functional programming languages and mobile/software development, as well as business intelligence, data science, information security, and more.

1. Quarterly Newsletter
To provide feedback, please email: newsletter@huxley.com
FinTech | Banking Industry Friend or Foe? 2 – 3
Technology Updates 4 – 5
Miranda Zhao - An Inspirational Role Model 6 – 7
Front Office Updates 8
Celebrating International Women’s Day 9
Finance Updates 10
Compliance Updates 11

2. The Banking Industry is constantly evolving, in the last decade alone
banks have come through the global financial crisis, the great recession
and a radically changed regulatory environment. All this at a time when
disruptive technology is challenging traditional financial service providers
like never before.
FinTech start-ups are playing an ever-increasing role in shaping the
landscape of the financial sector. At first glance it would seem that the
traditional banks have everything to lose but have banks embraced
FinTech as an opportunity for competitive advantage?
Rising Demand of Non-Traditional Banking
The world’s wealth is growing and as it does so, the demand for financial
services is growing too. The rise of the middle class across the developing
world in particular is likely to offer significant growth potential for those
well placed to service it.
Already we see examples of non-traditional banking ‘leapfrogging’ the
established networks. In parts of Africa large numbers of people are using
mobile banking. The growth of smartphones means that over the next few
years billions more people will be online.
The Growth of the FinTech Sector
The most disruptive technology that has been seen in the sector so far
has come from outside the traditional banking world.
Fintech is changing the way we deal with money and to be able to shape
the new world that is emerging, banks understandably want to be part of
that world.
The Pressure Points
Of course, banks have had plenty of other issues vying for their attention. The
ever-changing regulatory system, Payment Protection Insurance in the
UK and the London LIBOR scandal.
Not a year goes by without some new challenge. As Nikki Richards, Key
Account Manager at Huxley Banking and Finance puts it, “I think that, at
all times, larger banks have many different plates to spin and FinTech is
yet another plate - but the reality is it’s an important one.”
Another disincentive has been the initial cost of digital innovation. While
many technologies end up being cost savers, many require substantial
initial investment with no guarantees of success let alone future returns.
And banks have to compete in a very busy market when it comes to
specialists in FinTech mobile technology; it is a very niche area. “It can
be very difficult to find the right candidates and when you do they are
very expensive,” Nikki Richards says. “There is so much competition as
the right people are few and far between.”
Not just that, but the recruitment process between traditional banks and
their FinTech rivals are vastly different: “Technology companies can
move fast; they can interview and hire someone within a week, perhaps
one phone call and one on-site interview (depending on the availability of
the founders/senior members of the firm, they might have to come back).
Paperwork for an offer could sometimes be on the same day, if not
shortly thereafter. In banks that person might take a phone call, then
interview on-site that week, and come back the following week to meet
some more developers, the business, and/or the hiring manager’s boss
and HR. Then the actual written offer might have to go through several
layers of management sign-off or approval, which can take an additional
week(s),” explains Joseph Cooper, Banking Technology Development
Specialist at Huxley Banking and Finance, New York. That can be
challenging when it comes to responding quickly to new developments.
FinTech | Banking Industry Friend or Foe?
Are traditional banks embracing FinTech as an opportunity for competitive edge? “Larger banks
have many
different plates
to spin and
FinTech is yet
another plate.”

3. “FinTech uses the latest technologies and can always make a switch to
another because their code bases are not massive and their product(s) is
a lot smaller,” says Joseph. “Things are agile and they want to use the
latest and greatest technologies.” Then there is the cultural difference:
“These companies have food served, nice kitchens, chefs, free drinks and
offer top benefits. They allow a lot more freedom in terms of hours worked
and the ability to work from home when needed, as well as work attire,” he
adds.
Getting In The Game
Many banks are now working hard to innovate. Barclays, for example, is
keen to discover the next big FinTech success with its accelerator
programme, an intensive programme designed to support promising start
ups. The programme includes guidance from key figures at the bank,
investment options, mentoring and networking opportunities in the
FinTech world.
There are Barclay’s accelerator programmes in London, Cape Town, Tel
Aviv and New York. The fact that senior executives are involved shows
the importance being placed on this kind of project.
Huxley’s Nikki Richards thinks it is an innovative approach, “I think it’s a
very smart way of going about it; I haven’t seen anyone else do it so
publicly. It is a way of fostering new talent and drawing the bank closer
into the sector.”
In some ways FinTech can be seen as a friend, as Daniel Woodgate,
Principal Consultant – Financial Technology in London, explains: “It’s
maintaining a level of talent that is required for financial services to
continue to innovate and move forward and as much as banks might lose
some people to FinTech, at the same time it’s spurring innovation in an
industry that could easily have stagnated otherwise.”
Some Things Never Change
Despite all the focus on FinTech, the thing that will always matter most is
what the customer wants.
What the customer wants is changing beyond recognition but ultimately,
to be the best, it is always going to be about being responsive.
While fostering start-ups, buying start-ups or buying from start-ups may
well be part of how banks go about ensuring that responsiveness,
FinTech itself is no silver bullet.
Daniel adds, “Whilst FinTech’s have started to eat into traditional banking
profits, many FinTech’s rely on the Banks as partners and customers, to
provide services and platforms to, so whilst some areas (e.g. Digital
Banking) there will be direct competition. In others, FinTech’s success
will be dependent on the good health of the Banking & Finance domain
as a whole and Banks are critical to that. Also to consider is that Banks,
some with enormous balance sheets, will continue to be able to operate
in markets that FinTech’s will struggle to compete in, whether it be IPO’s
(potentially even for the FinTechs as they continue to grow), M&A or their
own Venture Capital/Equity investments (many into the FinTechs) etc.
Banks will no doubt find ways to get a payday in an evolving market and
also as a result of FinTech success, one way or another.’’
To find out more about Fintech trends or to have a general conversation
about technology in the banking and financial services sector, please
contact:
Daniel Woodgate: d.woodgate@huxley.com
Joseph Cooper: j.cooper@huxley.com
Nikki Richards: ni.richards@huxey.com
Did you enjoy reading this article? Please send us your feedback or
article suggestions for the next newsletter to newsletter@huxley.com
FinTech | Banking Industry Friend or Foe?
“These
companies have
food served, nice
kitchens, chefs,
free drinks and
offer top
benefits.”

4. Software Development
The fierce battle for talent continues in the ever
competitive software development field. Recently we
have seen a move away from the hiring of OO
language developers (e.g. C#, Java) and a burst of
activity in the functional space. This includes
languages such as Scala, Haskell, F#, Golang,
Ruby, Clojure, Python and the list goes on. They
have always been used in the background due to
their better abstractions for problem solving.
However, due to the lack of supportive hardware and
compiler technology they have only just become
practical. These languages are being piloted by the
digital community who find their elegance and
concise solutions to complex problem solving a huge
advantage. At the same time they can be difficult to
learn, and therefore, currently command high
salaries with a heavy contractor presence in the
market. With technology continuing to advance on a
daily basis the demand for this skill set will
continue to grow as companies aim to launch more
innovative products requiring new approaches of
thinking and therefore new methods to deliver
solutions.
Mobile development
Mobile development continues to be a contract
heavy market. However, there are pockets of well-
known FinTech businesses that are already building
out permanent teams, with attitudes perhaps starting
to shift from a candidate’s perspective as well. Cross
platform development products such as Xamarin or
PhoneGap are still popular but from experience
there is still a preference from clients for developers
who are able to develop natively across iOS and
Android. Mobile development is equally as affected
by the DevOps and Agile culture by comparison to
web development so the usual lean toward Agile,
Test Driven Development and Continuous
Integration is prevalent but evangelists in this space
are still quite rare and the majority of the mobile
developers on the market are still learning in this
regard. Front end technologies remain mirrored
across web and mobile with Javascript playing a key
role with frameworks such as AngularJS and ReactJS.
There are some instances of businesses looking to
use NodeJS hence going full Javascript but this hasn’t
resulted in any major projects we’ve seen yet.
Business Intelligence
In banking terms, the Business Intelligence market
has been very quiet since the turn of the year,
however this has yielded more of a market share to
competitor industries. Specifically within banking,
tensions and uncertainty in the City have led to a de-
saturation of the market, with even seasoned
professionals struggling to secure long term remits.
This has been exacerbated by the offshoring trend
which is rife throughout the industry.
Tech wise, Microsoft BI has continued to dominate.
Data visualisation is being led by Qlikview with
Qliksense beginning to show a presence. Tableau and
Business Objects are showing some promise,
however this has been contained more to the retail
banking and insurance industries.
The 'en-vogue' topic seems to be cloud computing
with many of our clients endeavouring to make SAAS,
IAAS AND PAAS a core part of their technical estate.
Data Science
Firstly, one must note that data science isn’t
necessarily a new concept and has previously existed
for decades in the form of business intelligence, data
analyst and quantitative development. However, the
more recent explosion in the amount of data we create
on a minute by minute basis combined with the
advancements in server processors has led to a
slightly new field of research and algorithmic design,
coined data science.
There are two main types of companies looking to
hire these profiles currently. Naturally the start-up
world focussed on delivering innovative machine
learning and artificially intelligent solutions to
common problems are hiring the smartest brains out
of the Computer Science Red Bricks. Their
candidate proposition is very engaging given the
shear exposure to all aspects of the business that
one can gain within the start-up environment. This is
the main factor allowing start-ups and early stage
ventures to remain competitive against the
impressive salaries companies such as Facebook,
Google, Microsoft and IBM can offer when hiring.
However, these larger more established tech firms
tend to hire data scientists/machine learning experts
into their research centres of excellence providing
candidates with the opportunity to experiment and
create their own projects. Whereas start-ups will hire
with a specific mandate in mind, yet innovative and
entrepreneurial personalities are key to help them
survive and thrive.
Few of the largest hedge funds have started building
up similar centres of excellence including most
notably Man Group who have strategically partnered
with Oxford’s Computer Science department offering
PhDs project work that can be used for their theses.
Other smaller funds have started asking questions
around the data science piece but are currently
unsure of how to harness the specific skill set of data
analysis, machine learning and algorithmic
knowledge partnered with the specific finance
domain.
Another, key area includes Computer Vision where a
variety of industries are experimenting in different
ways to utilise this potentially very powerful tool
which could look to supercharge many industries
Technology Updates
We digest the latest updates in your market
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What SMEs can learn
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BBVA

5. specifically including the marketing, healthcare and
financial space into a whole new realm. One of the
most exciting hot stories in this space includes the
recent news of Mary Lou Jepsen’s announcement to
leave Facebook’s Oculus Rift to join start-up Open
Water to work on developing wearable MRI. With a
strong academic background, experience at Intel
and Google plus running her own successful start-
ups, it will definitely be interesting to keep a close
eye on as this story develops.
Finally, in terms of trends, driverless cars continue to
steal the headlines as the race continues between
most notably Google and Tesla, to get fully approved
vehicles on the road. Throughout 2016 expect to see
huge in roads (no pun intended) in this field of AI.
The next battle will involve persuading consumers to
adopt this method of transport full time. On another
note, what will be more interesting to observe, will be
the companies providing solutions alongside this
new breed of cars, e.g. the insurance markets and
how companies like Uber will evolve.
Information Security
This year has already been a big year for information
security and high profile data breaches. A recent
example of this and the implications when data
breaches happen is the Panama Law Firm, Mossack
Fonseca.
Very recently Mossack Fonseca suffered one of the
biggest leaks in history when it had eleven million
files leaked to a worldwide consortium of
newspapers. Direct effects of this data leak has
resulted in the resignation of the Icelandic Prime
Minister, due to public pressure. Not only this, but
over sixty heads of state and politicians are also
implicated, including the football’s world governing
body FIFA.
Another major trend that we have seen within the
market is a marked increase in the spending on
information security by organisations. A survey of
10,000 senior information security managers by PwC
found that information security spending increased by
51% in the technology sector and 14% within the
financial services sector from 2015. One of the
reasons for the increase in spending on information is
the worry of reputational damage caused by a data
leak, with 41% of organisations polled in a
government survey suggesting that damage to their
reputation had the greatest impact.
This increased spending can be seen in an increase
in hiring for cyber/ information security professionals,
especially within Financial Services and the
Technology sectors. With a survey from PwC finding
that information security spending increased by 51%
in the technology sector and 14% within the financial
services from 2015. This increased amount of
spending within this space has led to the demand for
workers outstripping the current supply within the
market. The breakdown of permeant hiring and
contractual hiring shows that, the majority of the roles
advertised on IT specific job boards throughout the
UK are permanent. With the number of permanent
roles advertised in a 3 month period to 8th April 2016
ballooning to 1977, which is up over 100% from the
same period in 2015. The contractual side of things
has also seen an increase but not as dramatic as
experienced by the permanent job market, with 407
jobs posted in the same period, also up over 100%
from the same period in 2015.
We have also see a dramatic rise in the number of
Chief Information Security Officers (CISO) as well as
an increase in responsibility associated with these
roles. Historically information security was considered
within the domain of the IT department, however, high
profile financial losses and reputational damage of
large companies has turned this issue into a central
topic discussed at board level. This has in turn led to a
huge demand in the requirement for senior
information security managers, with c-level
stakeholder management skills to come in and
translate technical requirements and processes into
Business language that can be understood and
correctly acted upon. This drive in demand has
dramatically increased the remuneration that CISO’s
receive, however the size of the organisation does
have a substantial effect on the salary offered.
The final trend that we have noted is a growing
interest in the human aspect of information security.
Technology alone cannot entirely secure an
organisation’s information security, as the human
aspect of an organisation needs to be taken into
consideration. We and other commentators have
found that organisations are increasingly sharing
cyber security threat intelligence reports with their
staff to inform and boost compliance of information
security standards.
The first trend that we foresee is a continuation in
the increase in the number of detected attacks that
businesses report, as well as a change in the types
of tactics used to attempt to breach information and
cyber security defences. We also predict an
increase in the number of attacks that rely on or
include a human element.
The second trend that we are seeing within the
market is the break out of smaller, more niche
information security and cyber security companies.
We predict that the information and cyber security
sector will follow in the Banking Sector’s shoes, as it
looks extremely unlikely that the static large
solutions vendors will be on the cutting edge of
information and cyber security five years from now.
But rather, nimble start-ups and small and medium
sized tech companies will be at the cutting edge.
Our third and final prediction for the future of
information security is the growing importance of
authentication and identity management within the
information security space. With increased spending
in the information security space also comes the
need to ensure that this increased security doesn’t
impair the business’ ability to operate and
communicate internally and externally.
Technology Updates
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6. Miranda Zhao is by her own admission a small, young looking women. But
her physical appearance belies the courage and determination its taken her to
succeed during her twenty years working in a ferociously competitive and male-
dominated industry. A fierce advocate for workplace diversity, Miranda has
faced many professional challenges during her path to success.
When it comes to the topic of diversity, one of the biggest issues is the
assumptions made by others based on gender, on race, or any number of
things that make us different from one another. For Miranda, one of the
challenges that she has faced throughout her career is not only gender or
heritage-based but instead, her stature. Blessed with genes that make her look
younger than her years, and a height that hovers around 5ft, her appearance
masks sharp analytical and financial mind. She is often told: “You’re smaller
than your voice.”
Miranda explains: “Where it worked against me is very subtle but very powerful.
I’m very small despite my voice. I’m 43 and I’ve had 20 years of work
experience but the first impression is that I look young and don’t have that much
experience.”
She has experience in spades, however, first at Deutsche Bank, where she
worked in the securitization team and the derivatives team, then onto a director
position at CitiBank. Following that, Head of Department, Market and Liquidity
Risk Management at Erste Bank, before her current position at Lloyds. Her
experience, as wide ranging and successful as it is, has been an opportunity to
capitalise on her unique skills and talents. She credits her background – part of
a family of entrepreneurs in Shanghai – with the career outlook that has got her
to where she is today, a proactive approach to managing her own
professional experiences and being open-minded enough to explore different
career choices.
The Benefit of Experience
Miranda recently spoke about her early years and her career so far at a
Lloyds Banking panel event titled: “Cultural Difference - Opportunity Not
Barrier”. Musing on the fact that every member of the panel began their talk
by outlining their early years, Miranda notes why diversity is so important: “It
is our education, upbringing, and environment that impacts other spaces, and
how we make decisions for ourselves. This then translates into how we
approach work and solving problems at work.”
In Miranda’s case, that background includes arriving in America aged nine,
having been brought up in Shanghai by her grandparents (her mother had
already emigrated, paving the way for the rest of the family to join).
As if the transformation itself – from Maoist China and its many avenues of
oppression, to a country where freedom is enshrined in the constitution –
wasn’t enough of an adjustment, Miranda spoke no English. “It made me
very observant,” she notes. But much more than that, it gave Miranda skills
that would benefit her throughout her career.
Let’s take negotiating as an example, a required skill in the financial industry.
Miranda says that her upbringing and early experiences gave her the skill of
empathy, something which she brings to the negotiating table: “It could be
that I am negotiating with somebody who has a very different point of view
from me, so my first port of call is to try and understand where they’re coming
from and why they’re formulating their views. I start to pay much more
attention as to why they have a different opinion, as opposed to talking over
them so that they come to my way of thinking. I think it puts the whole
negotiation on a better footing. If you don’t approach a discussion with an
empathetic manner, then you’re going to be defensive all the time and you’re
going to be arguing from the get go. Nine out of ten times it works - the only
time it doesn’t is when the other person doesn’t want to hear your point of
view at all.”
An Inspirational Role Model – Miranda Zhao
Miranda Zhao is Managing Director in the Financial Institutional Business at Lloyds Banking Group
“We want people
to foster their
own ideas and
do things in a
different way.”
Miranda Zhao is a Managing Director in the
Financial Institutional Business at Lloyds
Banking Group, responsible for coverage of
Private Equity Fund clients, UK. Prior to joining
Lloyds Banking Group, Miranda’s journey
included a consulting role in New York, a decade
trading and structuring financial products in both
London and New York, and a portfolio
management role in Central Eastern Europe.

7. Work/Life Balance
Finding a work/life balance for anyone in the financial services industry is a
challenge, particularly in investment banking, where ‘facetime’ is so important.
A heavily pregnant Miranda simply had to state that if she left work ‘early’ it
was for the benefit of her and her unborn baby: “For me it’s really important
that I take care of myself and most people are sympathetic to that. It does
mean that you are not on the fast track to promotions or bonuses but that’s a
personal choice you make. I returned to work after nine months because I
really wanted to.”
That said, Miranda’s next career move was borne from a desire to have more
flexibility in her work. She admits that a commercial bank was never on her
radar, but having been approached about a position at Lloyds, and having
completed due diligence on the company, she felt that Lloyds represented the
perfect opportunity for the next step in her career, as well as a move back to
London. Part of that was down to its forward-thinking culture. “I wanted to
refocus more time on the personal aspect, so I took a shift into a different
work environment. It didn’t mean I worked less, I travelled a ton, but when I
didn’t travel I could work from home. I think all the banks are publicizing the
same language [regarding diversity and inclusion] but I wonder how many of
the big top investment banks really believe in it. If you’re interviewing for a role
you’ve got to dig deep and find out what the real culture is.”
Fostering The Right Culture
Diversity begins and ends with the right culture, but how is that created? “I
think if you want to create a successful and diverse environment, you have to
allow people to make mistakes without fear of repercussion; a supportive
environment for people to speak up. I try to make sure I speak less. I see my
job and my role as someone who is planting a seed, watering it and giving it
enough sun, flowering an idea, letting it grow. The idea is to encourage the
team to speak. There is a balance to be achieved obviously, because we don’t
want a free for all, but we want people to have their own ideas and do things
in a different way.
As a leader, I have to appreciate that one person cannot be an expert on all
matters and therefore a strong team culture with acceptance for different
ideas creates the best long term outcome .”
Role Models
Miranda cites role models from her own mother – a strong and very driven
woman who eschewed pity for a forward-looking and optimistic approach and
a real pride in her past and heritage – to an autobiographical reference in Ms.
Sonia Sotomayor who is the first Latina Supreme Court Justice. But work
colleagues have also become role models for Miranda: “There were people
that I used to work with and in particular, line managers who broke my
notions of what was acceptable in terms of I&D and agility. It would make
such a difference when my manager was empathetic to my need to juggle a
gruelling work schedule along with a young family. By approaching me with a
suggested “why don’t you work from home“ he opened up that discussion
first and made it acceptable. It got me thinking: why don’t I do that with my
team?”
Having risen successfully through the ranks, does she consider herself a role
model? “I try to be. I certainly never tell people you can have it all at the
same time. I am transparent, when I have to leave early for a doctor’s
appointment or if there’s a school play for my son I just coordinate my diary
and do it. I have given my team access to my diary and whereabouts. There
are nights where I will work late from home to catch up. For me, it’s about
what people deliver, not how long they spend at their desk.”
Within her own sphere, things are moving in the right direction, but there is
more to be done: “We could do with more women and men who have
multiple obligations in the front line leading, we don’t have enough. That
would pave the way for more working families, people with elderly care
obligations and generally a more supportive environment.
“Banking remains one of the most fascinating places to work as the industry
continues to evolve. There are many competencies to learn irrespective if
you are on the front line, risk or operational functions. One has to be
judicious with diversifying one’s experiences and keep learning.”
Did you enjoy reading this article? Please send us your feedback or
article suggestions for the next newsletter to newsletter@huxley.com
An Inspirational Role Model – Miranda Zhao
“Banking
remains one of
the most
fascinating
places to work.”

8. Quantitative Analytics
Since the turn of the year, activity in the front office
has been relatively quiet if we look at trends on a
year-on-year basis. There are a number of reasons
for this but the two we have identified is the weak
performances from banks in the fourth quarter of
2015 (limiting capital to invest in new exploration
projects) and the anxious nature of board level
executives on the upcoming Brexit referendum. As
we have progressed further into the year and
volatility in the markets has somewhat decreased,
there has been a steady increase in hiring in a few
pockets across the front office including FX, equities
and electronic trading teams. Areas such as credit
and rates have been continually scaled back at
many investment banks resulting in further
redundancies or redeployment within the bank.
Following bonus period a large portion of the
workforce have been left disappointed with their
compensation and the trend of receiving zero bonus
has become commonplace in a handful institutions.
This of course has created a problem in itself
coupled with many banks freezing hiring, as those
starting to consider opportunities and explore the
market have found the volume and quality of the
opportunities has drastically declined in a much
more competitive market.
There has been strong demand for risk analytics
experience as we have progressed into Q2. The
budgets allocated to FRTB have channelled an
increased appetite in those with market risk,
counterparty risk, and exposure management and
valuation methodology experience. Projects within
this area specifically are drawing attention to
candidates from many walks of life including front
office traders, quants and structurers who are eager
to realign their skill sets to other relevant, stable
career paths.
The buy side is also a far more attractive proposition.
Instead of being given a particular set of tasks that
require quants to use derivative pricing and
stochastic calculus in the same way over and over
again buy side quants are focusing on alpha
generation and constructing quantitative strategies.
Less regulation means more freedom to design and
work on the more complex mathematical models that
seem to be a thing of the past in the front office.
One market trend that is becoming more apparent is
fresh PHD grads opting to explore the likes of G-
Research, KCG, Exane and Fidelity opposed to
names like Barclays, Bank of America and Societe
Generale, and why wouldn’t they? Less regulation
means not only the chance to work on more
extravagant models but also make more extravagant
money due to little to no bonus caps.
Systematic Quant Market - Buy Side
Since the start of 2016 everything has been very
slow in hiring on the buy side, particularly for senior
hires, but we are now starting to see more
movement on the junior side. There is a very high
demand for exceptional PhD students at the moment
who are looking to make a move into industry.
Speaking to clients this seems to be because so long
as they have the mathematical and technical ability
then firms would prefer to hire juniors and train them
up - particularly for research positions.
There is a high demand for those with a technical
background. If their PhD includes programming
experience in C++ / Python, or an internship in
development then this is preferable across
systematic trading firms. Equally, if they have
completed an MSc in Computer Science prior to their
PhD then this is also in high demand among many
firms at the moment. We suspect that this is due to
the need for Quants to come in and be involved in
everything from the data analysis right through to
execution which requires strong technical skills.
There are now many firms who will only look to hire
someone who can carry out the full lifecycle.
Due to the regulations on the sell side, we are
seeing an increasing amount of candidates looking
to join the buy side meaning it is extremely
competitive.
While throughout 2015 our main competition
seemed to be people joining places such as
Facebook and Google. This does not appear to be
the case at the moment, and the main competition
seems to be coming from candidates looking to join
small start-up firms or creating start-ups
themselves.
Salaries for a junior quant are ranging between
£70k and £100k. In 2015 salaries would often be
around £65k, but we haven’t seen that this year, so
looks like they are slowly rising at this competitive
time.
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9. To celebrate International Women’s Day
Huxley’s parent company, SThree hosted an
event where women from across the business
came together to discuss the issues that affect
them and hear from our Managing Partner
Natasha Clarke and Remi Olajoyegbe, an
external speaker and former Equity Syndicate
Head at Goldman Sachs and Renaissance
Capital.
Natasha spoke of the importance of celebrating
women’s achievements in the workplace;
encouraging women to be open and proud of
their skills and successes, as well as promoting
a “take charge” attitude in regard to their own
careers. Remi followed by revealing her story in
fascinating detail and extolling the need for
women to explore and celebrate their self-worth
in the workplace, by embracing their identities.
At the end of an inspirational day that’s it hoped
will the first of its kind and may be opened to
women from other industries, Gary Elden –
CEO of SThree, stated how critical it was that
women are encouraged to grow, develop and
advance within the workplace, to ensure
companies create a true meritocracy and build
an equal and diverse workforce.
Watch our women in the workplace series by
clicking on the links to the right. If you
would like to discuss Diversity within your
organisation, please contact Ami Fakey on
020 7469 5050.
Celebrating International Women’s Day
Huxley and SThree show the way and celebrate what women bring to the workforce
How women can empower themselves -
Women's Day at SThree
One mother’s journey back to work –
Amendeep Fakey
Natasha Clarke and external speaker Remi
Olajoyegbe share their experiences of how to
get ahead and tips on how women can empower
themselves and take control of their futures.
Click to watch.
Working mum Amendeep Fakey shares her
story about returning to work after maternity
leave and how she's balancing her successful
career with her family life.
Click to watch.

10. Accountancy
The accountancy space has been relatively quiet
with most activity in around change programmes
within the banks, who have been hiring finance
business partners to support the cost base of large
scale transformation.
We believe there will be an increase in demand
within the regulatory space is we approach the mid
year with the focus on Basel III, PRA returns,
Solvency II and other regulatory reports to the FCA
and Bank of England.
Operations
The current trend in the market is offshoring back
office to the likes of Poland and India to drive down
overheads. Additionally many businesses have been
making acquisitions which will lead to more investor
operations roles.
2016 was supposed to be a good year for hedge
funds in comparison to 2015 but the European
market remains uncertain and we don’t expect that
to change until after the UK EU referendum. The U.S
seems to be a target area for Hedge Funds in 2016.
A notable trend is the increasing relocation of
operation by several companies - BAML have
moved back office to Chester with the possible view
to offshore in the future. HSBC will be sending more
people to Birmingham and so will Barclays. These
changes will probably lead to more oversight roles
for firms with offshore back office teams. But it’s
likely that we’ll see back office positions returning to
the UK and a rise in hires at junior level for broad
operations roles.
As can be expected with operations the strategy
often changes, so we expect this will follow along the
current trend over the next 6 months with some firms
implementing new strategies post referendum.
Finance Updates
Insight and intelligence on your markets
Retail Credit Risk
Since January 2016, things have been moving slowly
in Retail Credit Risk. There has been a high demand
for people with IFRS9, SAS Modelling, Credit
Analytics, Credit Risk reporting, SAP, PD & LGD
Modelling, Scorecard Modelling, Portfolio Analysis
and Credit Risk oversight skill sets.
The suggestion is that this demand is primarily from
Challenger Banks who are due to implement IFRS9
legislation in the latter months of 2016. Measures
are already being put in place in preparation for the
enforcement of this legislation and hence the surge
in demand for these Hot Skills. A similar trend has
been identified in asset finance, wealth management
and asset management who are also implementing
this change.
Feedback from candidates in possession of these
skill sets suggests that Top Tier institutions (e.g.
HSBC, Lloyds) provide a sound platform to gain a lot
of expertise in a short space of time. They do
however find themselves leaving after 12-18 months
due to project end and little or no room for internal
progression; assumption being due to internal hiring
freezes.
Movement in the market in the first quarter has been
quite slow but with the introduction of IFRS9, RBC is
expected to build out their Credit Risk team at all
levels in their Wealth Management division. Lloyds
on the other hand has seen a significant downsize
with 300 Credit Risk job cuts, 110 specifically within
Retail and Property finance. BAML is due to hand
their entire Wealth Management division over to
Julius Bayer with the last sign off to be completed on
30th June, thus moving the entire process out of
London and to their regional offices.
Product Control
At best, hiring has slowed down, if not halted, due to
several factors affecting the industry all together.
The primary factor being Brexit. Most bulge bracket
Banks and Asset Managers are cautious about
hiring due to the volatile conditions created by the
uncertainty of the decision. Furthermore, sell side
firms still continue to face the dangers of an
increase in costs affected by the implementation of
Mifid II.
Within the IPV and Product Control space, most
banks are moving toward offshoring most of the PnL
functions to deal with restrained cost measures
being implemented across the industry. While this
move seems to be the more popular decision to
deal with costs, there are doubts over the long-term
sustainability of this particular strategy.
Hiring across the industry is forecast to remain low,
evidenced by consolidation of offices across the
globe and a strong reduction in the workforce
across the industry.
Audit
The FS internal audit trends in the UK have slowed,
once again this is seen as a waiting game until the
outcome of decision on the EU exit is known.
The bigger banks tend to lead the flow in the audit
space and none have been going into huge
recruitment drives. A key player in the audit space
was looking to increase by 10% but has currently
put that on hold, due to a business line re-
organisation while other banks are at present either
looking to downscale slightly or keep to the same
levels.
Why are UK banking jobs
moving out of London?
Huxley
Calling time on the gender pay
gap
Huxley

11. Compliance
The compliance market has been relatively quiet
across Q2. Reasons for this include current market
conditions within the sell side of the banking sector,
the UK EU referendum, fewer new regulations that
require additional resource and lastly, there has
been a big push for internal mobility.
We have seen a higher level of roles across financial
crime compliance as opposed to regulatory
compliance. For financial crime compliance there
has been a constant request for candidates with a
strong background in sanctions given the recent
relaxation of rules with Iran. Across regulatory
compliance, there have been a number of roles that
have come from the buy side.
There is a certain nervous undertone surrounding
the EU referendum. A large number of hiring
managers across medium and large banks have
indicated that they will wait for the EU referendum
results before making any non-critical hires.
Reg/MIFID II
There has been a mild slowdown in the market due
to the implementation date being put back, however,
there is still a large number of contractual positions
within the market due the breath of changes that are
required for businesses to be compliant with the new
regulation.
We’re also seeing a large number of businesses
using consultancies (Big 4) for gap analysis before
getting regulatory change professionals in to
complete the suggested changes.
On February 11th the European Commission
confirmed the delay in the implementation of the
directive across the European Union, stating “it was
to take into account of the exceptional technical
implementation challenges faced by regulators and
market participants”. This means that MiFID 2 will
now apply from 3rd January 2018. A spokesperson
from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) added it
wanted a successful implementation of the new rules
and part of this means “having a realistic
implementation timetable for both regulators and
firms”. Also stating, “despite the delay, firms need to
continue to press ahead with their implementation
work. There’s still a lot for them to do to be ready in
time for the new implementation date”. This
sentiment was also shared by Harry Eddis, a
financial-regulation partner at Linklaters, who
suggested that while the delay is welcomed, the
industry as a whole still faces a race against the
clock to get everything in place before the deadline.
Due to the nature of the skills shortage in regulatory
work, a large proportion of the hiring in relation to
MiFID 2 is contract based. As contractual work is
more lucrative for contractors with these niche skills.
contract hires tend to be for between six and twelve
months depending on the type and size of the
business and the seniority of the position. There is a
small amount of permanent hiring, but this makes up
a very limited percentage of regulatory hiring in
relation to MiFID 2 and is focused on the more
senior end of the spectrum, with a number of large
institutions choosing to hire some Project Directors
and Project Managers on a permanent basis, to
ensure continuity of product delivery.
In reference to Business Analysts (BA’s) and Project
Managers (PM’s), they tend to be either business or
technically focused, with the technical aspects
relating to the IT and reporting systems. These
business centric or technically focused teams are
normally either interwoven or interworking,
depending on the regulatory team’s structure within
the company.
Due to the number of changes proposed by MiFID
2, regulatory teams need to communicate with
upper and lower management, traders and back
office staff, as well as producing Technical
Functionality Specifications, including, designing
and modifying reporting and recording systems.
Hence the requirements for both business and
technically focused BA’s and PM’s.
In terms of regulatory experience, as MiFID 2 is yet
to come into force, hiring is done in relation to
previous regulatory implementation experience.
Often regulatory specialists have experience with
the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer
Protection Act (Dodd Frank) or the European Market
Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR). This is due to the
large effect both regulations had on the Financial
Markets, which gives the regulatory specialists the
necessary experience in the large scale reforms that
are required for compliance with MiFID 2.
Even though the MiFID 2 implementation date has
now been put back, we don’t expect hiring for MiFID
2 compliance to slow down. We believe that it is
likely that the FCA will reduce the grace period, or
even have no grace period at all after the regulation
has come into force, as business now has extra time
to ensure compliance. Also, due to the number of
regulations that require large scale changes for
compliance with MiFID 2 we expect hiring to
continue at its current pace for at least the next 12
months, keeping contractor’s day rates at a similar
level.
Compliance Updates
Insight and intelligence on your markets
Solvency II Predictor
Huxley
Fintech players cite regulation
as biggest hurdle for 2016
The Treasurer
Why people don’t want to work
in banking anymore
Huxley

12. Quarterly Newsletter
Thank you for reading - To provide feedback or to suggest topics for next quarter’s newsletter, please email newsletter@huxley.com