http://www.businessbecause.com/news/mba-careers/2917/mba-jobs-digital-drive-opens-up-new-careers-in-financial-services
Financial services firms are
looking to hire more and more technology-oriented people so they can move
toward a more digital business model. They are looking to cut costs with this,
but Adam Jackson, director at Astbury Marsden said “Investment in IT is no
longer being seen as a cost, but as a key to unlocking better long-term
profitability for this sector.” As is revealed from this quote, IT is becoming
more casual for financial services firms and spending more money on it is now a
necessity.
The world’s
largest foreign exchange specialist online, Travelex, recently launched a £25 million digital growth
fund and is advertising the jobs that they are offering through a “major
recruitment drive” and have many openings in marketing, sales, data analytics
and payments. The payments are a big part of their business because they have
partnerships with Western Union and Ozforex, which is an Australian online
foreign exchange and payments company. Travelex plans to make more partnerships
with similar companies and more technology based companies so they can develop
new products and services linked to mobile, e-wallets, and location technology.
Mobile payments are the future of paying and the e-wallet will eventually
replace the old wallet. This is an interesting business tactic for this company
and, if successful, will surely put them ahead of their competition. With
technology increasing throughout the world drastically, Travelex looking for
more information technology specialized people is a very good idea for them.
BNY Mellon is another financial
services firm that is gaining IT presence throughout the world. They recently
created a technology lab in Silicon Valley to work on projects such as Digital
Pulse, which is how the bank will gather and manage their big data. They are
also hiring more IT people and will “ramp up” their recruitment in 2015.
Other banks that have been recruiting more people that are
digitally oriented are Bank of Singapore and Credit Suisse. Credit Suisse is
starting a “Digital Private Bank” that offers portfolio management and social
networking to their clients. An interesting statistic that was mentioned in the
article was: “About two-thirds of the world’s high-net-worth individuals expect
to manage some of their wealth digitally within five years, according to a 2014
Capgemini SA and Royal Bank of Canada report.” Managing wealth digitally means
people are accepting the risk involved when putting their personal money
information in the digital world. This will need increased security spending by
the banks, especially with the amount of cyber attacks and account hacks that
have been going on recently.
The digitalization that is evolving throughout the world
is creating opportunities in high frequency trading firms too. These firms are
recruiting people from investment banks with technology backgrounds. This makes
sense because they use a lot of technology in how they trade and do their job.
IT specialists are a necessity to them and this is becoming very present with
the amount of jobs that are opening up.
4 comments:
I believe that Drew’s post here has a tremendous amount of relevance in many of our lives. Still in search of a full-time opportunity, I realize through interviews and applications the direction most financial firms are going. That direction has a lot to do with technology and data storage. Many positions within the financial industry, now, require at least some sort of background in information technology. As the industry becomes more and more technologically advanced, it’s very important these financial institutions keep up with capable human resources. Like is stated in the article, “Banks need students with information technology skills to meet both regulatory demands and consumer preferences for online and mobile banking.”
The importance of data has been an extremely hot topic not only for the financial services, but for many other sectors as well. Healthcare, for instance, is on the brink of a data transformation. Some would say the healthcare sector lags behind most other sectors when it comes to data, but you can attribute that to the difficult integration process that has been occurring. With so many patients and so many treatments for so many illnesses, the data seems endless for these healthcare providers and insurance companies. The new data integration will have profound benefits on the industry as soon as they can move on from the inefficiencies brought on by the integration process. Unlike healthcare, the financial sector seems to be going through an integration process that never ends.
Technology will slow up for nobody and that’s relevant in the banking world. The transformation to online banking seemed to only cause a ripple effect of innovation to come. Mobile banking came and people are now capable of depositing checks with a camera phone. For banks to have capable humans working the jobs behind all this innovation is not only important, but also very necessary. With technology taking over the financial industry and becoming a focal point, security is an issue that has been raised. People need to feel secure with their personal information within a database.
I have firsthand experienced the importance of having a background in information technology within the financial industry. Not only to perform my duties, but being able to explain your certain set of technological skills has been extremely important for me and probably many others. Basically every interview I have been on I’ve been questioned on my skills or experience with data storage and management. It really excites and impresses the interviewer when you can intelligently explain your skills and the importance of information technology. Then, when past the interview process, having the background in information technology helped me perform my duties in the work area. Working in a wealth management office, I was asked to organize large amounts of data that included not only extensive client information, but also extensive portfolio statistics. I was able to manage and execute my duties with confidence and that could be attributed to my knowledge gained here at Loyola through the IS department.
Source: http://www.businessbecause.com/news/mba-careers/2917/mba-jobs-digital-drive-opens-up-new-careers-in-financial-services
http://www.forbes.com/sites/stevebanker/2014/10/08/kaiser-permanente-and-their-journey-to-transform-their-supply-chain/
While reading Drew’s blog I asked myself the question why haven’t most financial firms started hiring more technology oriented people five years ago. It makes complete sense for financial firms to start to hire more technology-oriented individuals because we are in the age of technology. I agree with what the director Adam Jackson said about how investing in IT is a long term investment and will eventually lead to profitability. It will speed up many processes and make financial firms lives so much easier. What Travelex is doing by launching digital growth fund in advertising jobs through a “major recruitment drive”. They made partners with Western Union and Ozforex. However they are currently trying to make partnerships with similar companies and more technology based companies so they can develop new products and services links to mobile e-wallets and location technology. This is so smart for them to think about doing because mobile payments are the future of paying and the e-wallet is on its way to replacing the old fashion depiction of the wallet. I agree with the fact that this will put the company ahead of the competition if they continue to head in this direction. BNY opening a technology lab in Silicon Valley is a great way for the bank to gather and manage their big data. This as well as recruiting more IT people will definitely improve their company. I think it is a good idea that other banks such as Bank of Singapore and Credit Suisse are starting a “Digital Private Bank” that offers portfolio management and social networking to their clients. I believe this will draw more customers and increase their worth. I think all in all that it is a very good idea for Financial services firms to continue to hire more IT people because this is clearly the direction in which not only the financial world is heading in but also the rest of the world.
Very similar to the topic I wrote about my most recent blog, the financial services industry since the financial crisis has gone through a transformation that many may argue is still in the process of being completed. The issue at this point is where to get the technical persons from, and what types of things incentivize this profile of employee. Financial institutions are struggling to find ways of moving people from the attractive positions in Silicon Valley and to Manhattan. Financial institutions must provide a workplace atmosphere much different than the typical cubicle style office where creativity is second to efficiency and cost cutting. The main way in which financial institutions entice employees now is through salary and some sort of benefit package. This mentality will not work on employees in the field of information technology for the most part. Those in the IT field take low paying positions in California because they have the belief that whatever project they are apart of is helping the community grow.
For those institutions that are able to attract the best IT students, they will very shortly become the most innovative companies in the industry. Capital One is a prime example of how information technology will provide a relatively small player, to become one of the most innovative companies in the world. IT personnel will continue to flock Silicon Valley until which time financial institutions are able to show they have begun to streamline their tech.
I think there are two points that need to be looked at when you talk about financial services firms embracing technology. The first is that the financial services companies need to make sure the investments in technology are profitable. This requires the companies to look at their strategy and decide where to place their IT investments. It would not be a good idea for any company to invest in a technology without seeing how it would fit in with the existing tech strategy the firm follows. The second is that they have to look at the security risks technology presents and figure out how to mitigate those risks. The data that financial services firms have is very sensitive and so any new software or hardware they implement will have to meet certain security standards. While I strongly support firms using more technology but I also feel that they need to make sure the new technology follows existing strategy and make sure that they have high security standards in order to comply with regulations and meet their customers’ expectations. Like the blog states this will require the firms to bring on more tech folks to help them make these decisions.
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