Current landscape of Banking and Finance



What a raging year for the financial sector! The Banking and Finance industry appears to be among several industries to fully recover from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and even thrive in 2022. With intense global competition for qualified talent, Singapore’s financial sector is facing an acute talent gap. Since 2021, the labour market has notably been driven by candidates.

The private banking sector is also facing a talent shortage. There is a high influx of capital flows into Singapore due to the burgeoning population of high net worth individuals. According to research conducted by Credit Suisse, the number of millionaires in Singapore is estimated to increase by 62% from 270,000 in 2020 to 437,000 in 2025. As a result, numerous financial institutions including Barclays Private Bank have set up or expanded their operations locally—and are on a hiring spree.

Private banks in particular are finding it difficult to fulfil their headcount targets for 2022. Several private banks have not yet successfully replaced the positions of relationship managers who left in the middle of this year. Furthermore, with Q4 2022 fast approaching, relationship managers are looking to secure their bonuses and are more reluctant to switch jobs.

Want to know if your employer is paying you what you’re worth? For your reference, here is the most up-to-date salary guide for Banking and Finance jobs based on data gathered by Morgan McKinley.

Retail/Commercial/SME Banking

Mortgage specialists provide mortgage-related advice to customers based on their needs and credit scores. Similarly, insurance specialists provide technical consultancy with regards to insurance products to clients.

The average annual salaries for roles in retail banking are as follows:

• Mortgage Specialist: S$45,000
• Insurance Specialist: S$80,000

Private Banking

Private bankers provide personalised banking services to high net worth individuals. Such bankers manage their clients’ financial assets as well as handle other financial matters for their clients, such as tax, estate, and philanthropic planning.

The average salary of a private banking Relationship Manager is S$200,000 per annum. For the average annual salaries of other roles in private banking, see below:

• Associate: S$96,000
• AVP / Associate Director: S$150,000
• VP / Director: S$240,000
• Executive Director: S$350,000
• Managing Director: S$480,000

The salaries of private bankers usually correlates with the proportion of the existing clients’ Assets Under Management (AUM) they can bring to the new bank. These salary averages do not include bonuses, which generally vary 8% to 20%. For boutique European and Swiss private banks as well as US private banks like JPMorgan Chase, the maximum bonus percentage can be as high as 25% for Managing Directors.

Investment Banking M&A / ECM / DCM

Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) bankers either work on the buy side or sell side. The buy side works with clients who want to buy a specific company or find ideal companies to acquire, whereas the sell side works with clients who are looking to either merge with another company or be acquired by a larger company.

The roles of Equity Capital Market (ECM) and Debt Capital Market (DCM) traders are similar in nature. The difference is that ECM traders trade equity, whereas DCM traders trade debt. ECM traders primarily assist companies in raising equity capital. While ECM traders handle longer-term securities, DCM traders work with debt issuances such as bonds or debentures in the short term.

The average annual salaries for investment bankers dealing with M&A, ECM and DCM are as follows:

• Analyst: S$80,000
• Associate: S$120,000
• AVP / Associate Director: S$200,000
• VP / Director: S$300,000
• Director: S$380,000

As M&A activity hit record high levels in 2021, most major banks have increased the base salary for junior analysts by around 15 to 20%. Analysts in top-tier firms such as JPMorgan Chase and Citi can get up to S$130,000 in their first year alone.

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Read more:
3 In-Demand Banking and Finance Positions in 2022