[ISN] Risk professionals in high demand in UAE banks

http://www.emirates247.com/business/economy-finance/risk-professionals-in-high-demand-in-uae-banks-2011-12-31-1.435141

By Shuchita Kapur
Emirates24|7
December 31, 2011

Demand for risk professionals in UAE banks has gone up by double-digits 
this year, according to experts in the recruitment industry.

"There has been a 28-per cent increase in risk vacancies registered by 
Huxley Associates in 2011 compared with 2010,” Keon Jamshidi, Huxley 
Associate's in-house risk expert told 'Emirates24|7'.

According to Barclay Simpson, a recruiter of risk professionals, risk 
management maintains high profile and the demand for risk professionals 
had gone down during the crisis of 2009 but is up again.

“Risk management recruitment was not immune from the effects of the 
global economic downturn and during 2009 there was a significant decline 
in the demand for risk managers across the financial services sector. 
During 2010, however, confidence has been returning across the sector as 
financial constraints have been alleviated. Once again risk management 
is raising its profile,” reads the website of Barclay Simpson.

Fearing bad debt, banks in the region are gearing up to minimise the 
risk.

“Many banks have moved to strengthen their counterparty credit risk 
frameworks to mitigate the increasing threat of provisions for bad debt. 
Many hires have therefore been made in this area during 2011 by regional 
banks. Liquidity risk has been another growth area for regional banks in 
2011 while the upward trend in recent years for market risk 
professionals in the region has slowed somewhat, not surprising given 
that many banks are reducing their treasury exposure to global markets. 
Candidates proficient in Basel II pillar two continue to be in high 
demand,” explained Jamshidi.

As per Barclay Simpson, “risk is now high on the corporate agenda as 
many financial services institutions are looking to develop their risk 
management capability, not only to better protect themselves but also to 
maximise profitability. Risk recruitment activity is gathering pace, 
particularly at leadership level, where commercially

minded chief risk officers and heads of risk, with the ability to 
integrate risk into the business and genuinely add value, are sought 
after. The traditional areas of credit, market and operational risk have 
had a rise in fortunes across all areas of financial services and we 
would expect this to continue for the foreseeable future.”

Going into the New Year, the demand for such professionals is expected 
to rise. “In 2012 we expect risk vacancies to grow even further in the 
areas mentioned above alongside increased recruitment in niche areas 
such as business continuity planning and disaster recovery,” said the 
Huxley expert.

Shane Phillips, MENA Regional Practice Leader, Financial and 
Professional Services at Stanton Chase is upbeat about the growth of 
risk professionals in the region and world over.

“[Globally] we are seeing a 400 per cent increase in demand for risk 
professionals. I find it interesting that the first CRO was only hired 
in 1993 by GE Capital and his name is James Lam. Today 80 per cent of 
financial services companies have a CRO,” he said.


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