Overall Summary

The third quarter of 2023 saw the signs of the beginning of what could be a much-needed recovery in the tech recruitment space both in Hong Kong and Singapore. While we are yet to match the exceptional hiring numbers of the previous year, there's an evident hiring momentum beginning to build in the market.

Financial Services

• Investment Banks' hiring trend remains conservative. Attrition still influences most of their recruitment, with Java/C++ Developers being the primary roles in demand. The cautious sentiment can be attributed to ongoing uncertainties in the global economic landscape. In our conversations with CIOs of various banks, they have all indicated that hiring for new positions might only begin in 2024.
  

• Insurance firms have been posting profits resulting in hiring taking an upward trajectory. Focusing on business from the mainland has been a common theme. Digital, Transformation, and Data related hiring have remained strong to support the increasing sales activities.

Other Sectors/Domain-Specific Trends

• Cyber Security and IT Risk are the areas we see continuous demands in, we spoke with CISOs and CIOs, and Data Protection has been the number one priority in strengthening existing technology infrastructure.
  

• We have witnessed a growing demand for the Artificial Intelligence field, spanning from business adoption to research areas, which includes Machine Learning and Large Language Models (LLM). We anticipate that more corporations will establish their own AI teams to meet internal demands.

Other Noteworthy Points

• We loved watching this clip where the President and COO of Blackstone talk about the importance of Data and AI in their business.
  

• The Crypto Winter could turn into Crypto Summer again as it slowly splutters back into action. Hashkey and OSL have also been granted an Exchange License in Hong Kong, following with SFC announcing another 4 Crypto Exchanges are in the process of applying for licenses after the JPEX incident.
  

• We have fielded many questions from clients about setting up offshore IT teams in Malaysia. Cyberjaya (only 30 minutes from KL) seems to be attracting attention. Meanwhile, Hong Kong is also planning to set up an economic hub in Putrajaya (Southern Johor). 
  

We trust this insight will be of value to you. 

Best Regards,

Vince Natteri, Managing Director

(on behalf of the Pinpoint Asia Recruitment Team)