Survey Results from Hong Kong: What are the greatest opportunities and challenges for 2017?

The general outlook for the financial industry in Hong Kong has been looking slightly bleak in 2016 although optimism for the market can be spurred by the backing of the large Chinese dominating market. Despite the poor economic conditions in 2016, the outlook for 2017 is definitely looking more positive as organisations mainly view growth as their priority, whilst taking advantage of new product offerings as a channel for their greatest opportunity for growth.

"41% of mostly small to mid-sized firms alongside a few large firms have ranked growth as one of their top priorities representing a potential of increased hiring as well as increased investments to spur growth as intended while 26% of mainly mid to large sized firms have leaned towards cost-savings."

In this report, we have surveyed the financial industry in Hong Kong to get a deeper insight into the opportunities and challenges the industry faces in the next 12 months. Different sectors of the industry face differing challenges and one key challenge that touches all aspects of the financial industry - availability of talent.

Find out more about the individual challenges and the opportunities to keep a lookout for. 

Rather than viewing this as a limit to their creative capacity, many developers see this as an opportunity for more independent working, and the ability to employ imaginative thinking in working to maximize the user experience.

While the demand for candidates transitioning from the tech sector is great, certain skillsets are in particular demand. Hedge Funds are seeking those with data entry experience, game developers with an understanding of simplifying the user experience, and those who have worked at large multi-national conglomerates.

In an effort to compete with Silicon Valley-like benefits, many hedge funds have started to become more flexible in their approach to hiring. Excellence notes that more and more hedge funds are starting to offer extra vacation days to appeal to those with families. While this is yet to become the norm in the Financial Sector, there has been an acknowledgement that getting the best developer means a movement away from the traditional nine-to-five, corporate clothed template that has dominated the financial industry, and the world of hedge funds is beginning to turn heads among developers.