Banks waging global tech talent war

Financial services firms are fighting a global battle to attract the best IT executives as demand for the top tech leadership skills hits dot-com boom levels on the back of increased investment in technology.

The limited talent pool is forcing companies to hire in whichever geography the best person lives, rather than having the role based in a specific location, according to the latest quarterly financial-services market report from executive search firm Heidrick & Struggles.

There are various drivers behind this investment in technology and the associated demand for skills across the financial services landscape.

In equities, for example, growing trading volumes and the increasing complexity and sophistication of derivative products is driving investment in cash equity and equity derivative technology.

Is there a skills shortage?

Tell us what you think of the IT workforce in silicon.com's 2007 Skills Survey.

Demand for tech skills is particularly high in the investment management sector, which has typically under-invested over the last few years and is now playing catch-up on the back of the need for increased efficiencies, client support and competition from more players entering the market.

This global search for skills stretches across the entire financial services sector from investment banking to retail banking and insurance.

The Heidrick & Struggles report said: "We are seeing more client demand to find talent regardless of location. This trend is not to be confused with outsourcing activity, which certainly has grown over the past decade, but rather a genuine interest to identify talent to drive global initiatives."

Some of the key financial-services CIO-level appointments highlighted from the last quarter include Fida Chishti moving to emerging-market hedge fund Spinnaker Capital as CTO from UBS Alternative & Quantitative Investments and Joe Gordon joining Zurich Financial Services in the UK as CIO and head of business change from AIG.

Royal Bank of Scotland Global Markets and Banking has also been rebuilding its IT leadership team with Greg Hannah joining as CIO for Asia from Deutsche bank and Charles Knight taking over as head of fixed income technology for Asia from Morgan Stanley.