1. Financial Services Technology Update
Jan2015
2014 has seen a
buoyant job market
for Technology within
Financial Services.
Meeting regulatory
deadlines, dealing
with compliance
pressure, reducing
financial penalties and
maintaining monetary
stability have remained
the top priorities for
Banking Executives.
Technology implementations to
satisfy business pressures, both
strategically and ad-hoc are in
full swing. Furthermore, to ease
transparency, McGregor Boyall have
seen more group level hiring across
entities, notably in Risk, Payments,
Compliance and Analytics. The
common thread is the hottest word
of the year - Data.
> Banking
> Insurance
> Asset & Wealth Management
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Focus on Data for BCBS 239
The BCBS 239 standard sets one clear
general objective: “Overarching governance
and infrastructure, Risk data aggregation
capabilities, Risk reporting practices,
Supervisory review, tools and cooperation”,
and the final set of ‘Principles’ for the above.
The implementation challenges were
embraced by the banks and throughout 2014
McGregor Boyall found high demand for
expertise in:
> Processes to improve corporate
governance
> New / enhanced Independent Validation
Unit using costly IT, Data and Reporting
facilities
> Creation of one “Goldensource” of data
that can hold and supply up to the minute
data across the bank - Data consolidation
and automated reconciliation
are key
> Improved data quality of risk reports for
regulators to view future risks as well as
current risks on demand and ad-hoc
Delivery date of the ‘Principles’ for Banks of
Global Importance to meet the standard is 1st
January 2016. In 2014, this initiative started
to move towards implementation. For
this, the enhancement of banks’ upstream
and risk IT systems, risk data and reporting
capabilities not only requires investment and
hard skills but strong relationship,
cost and change management. The
banks are implementing a number of
change programmes and the challenge
of aligning these efforts to the rest
of the regulatory change portfolio is
considerable. Specific knowledge in
Basel III / Stress Testing / CCR is deemed
transferable into this newer space.
Moreover, the banking business is
changing its focus in terms of products,
clients and geographies which puts
additional strain on regulatory change
management projects.
Focus on Data for AML, KYC & CDD
Reporting Solutions
The pressure for the banks to produce
electronic reports globally and daily has
been huge in 2014. The aim is to build a
picture of the data required to support
their KYC activities and provide the back
bone of business and people verification
data from a trusted source of global
data.
The key parameters to be fulfilled by the
banks include a proven understanding
of the nature and locations of their
clients, risk in doing business in specific
countries, sanctions and checks, clear
and verified fundamental client details,
through to reducing fraudulent use of
deceased data.
Technology Recruitment Update: A Review of 2014

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Combating issues regarding global client data has been a
defensive move to reduce fines and penalties. From Q2 in
2014, banks have identified the solutions of Data Integration, a
concept of Enterprise Data Management to the KYC remediation
or verification above. We have seen great liquidity for talents to
deliver a straight through processing process using best of breed
technologies.
Focus on Technology Solutions for Data Protection
Throughout 2014 we saw data strategy maturing, aimed at
protecting data and improving centralised visibility and control.
Regulatory mandates are nothing new now, but in most banking
organisations, the pressure, cost, and effort required to sustain
data compliance are reaching unprecedented levels. By Q3 in
2014, Target Operating Models have been built to change the
corporate culture in ‘patching’ for each audit or mandate. The
new data policies should reduce cost and increase efficiency,
by implementing a layered backbone for Data Compliance,
the centre of it is a cross technology, highly controlled and
secured encryption solution. Going into 2015, McGregor Boyall
anticipates the new policies to create demand for technical core
Data specialists who will solve regulatory demands.
Big Data for Banking
With all the above in mind, Big Data is increasingly becoming
a reality for the Banks. Banks do not lack data and its global
volume continues to increase exponentially. Last year our
clients have been ambitiously investing in hires to manage data
properly. Chief Data Officers hold the keys to data management
and mining, and Data ‘scientists’ would oversee the adoption of
a Big Data framework and architecture. A myriad of openings
have come up for Data SMEs to:
Going forward we expect that big data will be in the centre of
IT planning. Ultimately, efficient data management and mining
can enhance marketing and client relationships as the financial
sector becomes increasingly competitive.
Optimism for Challenger Banks
In 2014 we saw the long anticipated group of Challenger Banks
coming of age offering multi-platform banking.
These banks capitalise on diverse near shore locations in hiring
technology and operational staff, and have enjoyed a Greenfield
approach to build the core banking business. We have seen
requirements in 360 Digital Banking, Accounts Management, Savings
Products, CRM, Lending and most topically, Payments due to high
usage charges. Both new names and old money banks have begun
to show profit and stock market newcomers have shown initial
success. We are watching the Lending space as this is subject to
tough set of rules by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA)
whilst the government is naturally cautious from lessons learnt from
pre-crash days.
Focus on Payment Technology: Mobile Money
Problems with payments have hit headlines in 2014. Solutions lie
in platform inefficiencies after a decade of mergers and acquisition.
Banks have battled over payments experts with functional,
architectural, technical and proven delivery skills.
The payments system itself continues to be driven by traditional
online commerce with the increasing relevance of mobile
technology. We also expect evangelism in mobile payment
technology in developing countries where it will actually improve
quality of life and should be room for expansion for banks. Customer
expectations have been raised as they become comfortable with
new media and user interfaces. The competitiveness of this market
mirrors the issues mentioned above regarding Data, plus increased
pricing pressure from newcomers offering digital wallets and mobile.
Our clients told us that the traditional ‘volume equals profit’ no
longer applies – using technology to implement high level models
which can maximise customer experience to improve retention will
open doors to success.
Contract vs Permanent Vacancies 2014
> Identify critical business issues and manage cross
business relationships
> Collect clean and accurate data via automated
processes
> Improve real time data capabilities and reduce data
latency
> Increase data diversity in particular whilst considering
risk
> Generally lead business through change and IT
through implementation

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Focus on Cost Control and Business Management
There were many challenges for our banking clients as they
are under more pressure than ever to improve their efficiency.
After a decade of mergers and acquisitions, the largest banks
have not become systematically more efficient. In the past
2 years, however, it has been evident the banks that focused
on controlling cost have clearly outperformed their less savvy
competitors. In 2014, cost control implementation came into
fruition as part of the power shift in banking organisations.
As a result, we have seen many openings for talents, often
Consultants, taking new positions as Business Managers /
COOs / PMOs, to redesign organisations top down, optimise IT
operations, mostly in the form of sharing services and applying
stricter spending framework with more efficient procurement and
sourcing processes. Our clients also told us that their insourcing
versus outsourcing strategy was being reviewed and costing
reassessed.
Client segmentation and improved CRM strategy have been key
to balance cost versus service. Throughout 2014 near shoring in
particular has been favourable, for geographical proximity, speed
to market, lower costs (including travel costs), fewer language
barriers and cultural learning curves. Sadly, with high regulatory
cost, this year we have also seen many banks reducing its risk-
weighted assets, exiting capital intensive businesses such as
Commodities and Derivatives and axing Equities, thus radically
changing the landscape of Investment Banking.
Focus on Data Technology
After two years of high level change and revised business
processes, 2014 was a year for delivery. Banks invested heavily
in data services, Data Quality Control and data solution
development in 2014. Big Data introduced new approaches and
techniques to Business Intelligence (BI).
BI and Datawarehousing technical experts have been hired
in either business aligned IT or centralised Information
Services teams with data sourced from global CRM, Exposure
Management, Credit Portfolio Management, Financial MI, Trade
and Market Data. Datawarehouses now contain terabyte tables,
processing hundreds of GB and generating billions of rows each
day.
Continuous innovation from smaller BI players promoted
advanced visualisation and new insights by vertical or function,
whilst Mobile BI and Self-service BI become a necessity
for pioneering organisations. Cloud computing is another
innovation which will undoubtedly have a huge effect on the
BI market, already having an impact on CRM and ERP – there
has already been noticeable progress in new concepts such as
NoSQL databases and cloud data warehouses. Going into 2015,
predictive analytics is gaining popularity and should enjoy some
great prospects.
Reflecting on our clients’ demand in Data SMEs, we are continuing
to expand and quickly becoming more specialised.
Vacancy Level Comparison for 2013 and 2014

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To meet the technical challenges, we have seen high demands in:
Data Modelling
> OLAP
> Schemas
> Config
Business Intelligence tools
> Business Objects
> Cognos
> Microstrategy
Analytics
> Qlikview
> Spotfire
> Tableau
General Technology Trends
Within banking, a number of our clients have near shored pure
technical roles. The bulk of applications have been built in Java
6 and 7, mainly server application development with Core Java,
but we have also seen an upturn in enterprise, JEE development
and web based technologies such as HTML5, CSS3, XML / XSLT
used for intranet / internal SOA user platforms including trading
platforms, in particular in Rates, FX and electronic space with
C# 2 to 4.5 and WPF chosen for better user experience. Test
Automation and OpenSource tools remain popular and have
been embraced by more users.
Python is still an on-going requirement within the FX Options,
Futures and Options arena, as a flexible general purpose
language. We have seen some requirements in F# and Scala for
functional programming and emerging technologies such as
Splunk, Grunt, Bower. With more shared technology services,
enterprise class Architects covering a mixture of Solutions, Data,
Applications and Infrastructure layers have been in demand, and
are likely to continue to be so.
The headcounts now usually sit in business driven technology
areas, rather than in standalone architecture groups. The aim
is to achieve better synergy and communications amongst all
technologists in all locations. Agile Development and Business
Analysis practices have continued to be adopted throughout
2014 for more rapid and visible delivery to the business. We have
noted that some of our clients follow them more strictly, though
mostly a pragmatic approach is applied.
In terms of underlying Infrastructure technology, with avid
growth in Mobile Banking and Cloud Computing in 2014 we were
not surprised see a big drive in both contract and permanent
hires within the Security space – in particular Cyber Security
(Security Operations Centres, Incident Response, Threat
Analysis, Vulnerability Assessments, Digital Forensic Computer
Analysis, Data Loss Prevention, Intrusion Detection Systems).
At a higher level, we are seeing requirements for architects with
security policies and procedures, and standards including PCI
DSS, ISO27001 and COBIT. There has been an explosion of new
technologies for this space.
Application Support roles have been steady over the last year. For
the banks which are still in play, Equities business has seen some
growth in core areas. This has been reflected by aggressive hiring
in FIX and Electronic Trading Platform of Applications Support
specialists.
This has recently expanded to include Futures and Options. On
the other hand, support headcounts in Fixed Income and FX have
been stable this year. Outside Markets IT in general, eCommerce,
Digital and Web support have been a good market for jobseekers.
Testing is an area which the banks have near shored and off
shored. The demand has been even in both permanent and
contract hires.
In some of our banking clients, with the arrival of Agile
methodology, there has been a preference for hybrid Developers /
Testers or even Business Analysts / Testers this year, and UAT Test
Management, which involves in-depth business knowledge in the
given areas.
Vertical Allocation of IT Vacancies 2014

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Banks will compete
for talents by
implementing
frameworks to
mobilise globally,
recruit more
effectively and
develop careers
more holistically.
On the contract
side, throughout
2014 daily rates
have fluctuated
with rates cut to
rationalise cost.
As it stands we have
no reason to think
that the market
will take another
negative turn -
indeed the increase
in competition
mentioned above
may result in an
increase in daily
rate.
Preview for 2015
2015 will be a year of continual
implementation on the initiatives above,
with Data continuing to be the hottest
topic.
We are banking on both contract and
permanent staff, for controls, regulatory
reporting, compliance, risk and data
initiatives. We expect that with tight
deadlines for implementation, consultancy
business (big four and niche) will expand.
Banks will continue to near shore their
technical headcounts and will expand
in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Eastern Europe
and the North of England. Some of the
banks have been replacing outsourced
consultancy technical staff with
contractors, and we expect requirements
for them to rise this year.
More investment hires will be made within
core banking services such as Digital,
Payments and Cards, aiming to improve
customer relationships, increase retention
and keep the competitive edge.
The jury is out on if and how mobile and
virtual money will fare well in 2015, or how
much the banks themselves will invest. We
will watch this space closely.
2015 Salary and Rate Predictions
With the continued positive sentiment being
felt throughout the economy, we believe
that this year will finally see the release of a
substantial amount of talent that has been
hidden from the market during the last four
years.
There are a high number of highly capable,
potential candidates that have opted to stay
loyal to their employers during the slimmer
years; this pent up talent is getting ready to
mobilise as confidence grows in line with the
increasing frequency of articles confirming
the resurrection of the UK economy. This
will undoubtedly have a perverse effect on
recruitment and will create a segregated
market where the top employers will battle
it out for most skilled technologists and will
push the top 5% of salaries well above the
current accepted norms.
Additionally, due to the forecasted increase
in permanent vacancies, competition will
increase to secure the best talent in the
market. Because of this we are expecting
basic salaries to increase generally
throughout the course of the year. Many banks
will continue to promote internal mobility
when hiring for business critical initiatives to
retain talent across the entities of the Group,
reduce risk and cut costs.

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mcgregor-boyall.com
T: +44 (0)20 7422 9000