Hong Kong banks struggle to plug tech talent shortage

Engineers and developers are all in short supply.

Banks in Hong Kong are struggling to recruit top tech talent to implement their digital blueprints as a growing number of firms across industries battle to attract and retain the already limited supply of available tech manpower, reports efinancialcareers.

Also read: Failure to plug talent shortage could cost Hong Kong $1.73t in lost potential revenue

Engineers, for instance, are the most highly sought after bank tech job but have the least number of applicants as there are only 0.3 resumes per job opening. Digital transformation and program management professionals are also in hot demand by banks as there are only 1.6 CVs per job vacancy.

On the other hand, there are more applicants than available job openings in development and programming and data management at 2.2 and 2.3 CVs per job respectively.

Fintech, information security and cybersecurity also have more applicants than job vacancies at 2.8, 2.9 and 3 CVs per job respectively.

The Hong Kong government earlier acknowledged that the gaping talent shortage could hurt the growth of its industries as it rolled out its first ‘Talent List’ which contained 11 in-demand professions that the administration has deemed most necessary for its economic development.

Also read: Hong Kong may turn overseas to scout big data talent

The government has pledged that professionals in the list which include fintech experts, data scientists and cybersecurity professionals and IT experts, may enjoy prioritised immigration treatment under the Quality Migrant Admission Scheme (QMAS). 

In fact, an earlier report by recruitment agency Robert Half noted that bosses are planning to raise starting finance salaries by 7.5% in a bid to acquire top talent in a candidate-short market. The generous wage hike is well above the annual national wage growth which clocks in at 3.8%, indicating that bosses are more than willing to shell out competitive compensation packages to attract and maintain talent.