Talking Talent in Financial Services with Mahian Rab

Join us as Mahian Rab, Senior Consultant in Risk, Regulation and Compliance talks about recruitment trends in the Financial Services market and how clients can navigate these challenges.

Video Transcription

Hi, I'm Mahian Rab, Senior Consultant within the Risk practice focusing on risk, regulation and compliance across the UK and Europe.

What trends have you seen in the market?

I think there's a number of things.

From what we've seen from COVID, there was a lot of uncertainty within the market, especially last year.

We went through the full credit life cycle in terms of hiring. We saw collections as a big initial concern, so many were hiring within there. Then senior leadership roles to navigate through a recession and then hiring further teams to look at IFRS 9 and modelling on that front.

There wasn't as much confidence in the market. Whereas right now, there's a lot more confidence when we're talking about FinTechs and challengers, they want to progress, they want to build, they want to grow.

That's been the interesting piece, where hiring is accelerated for these businesses, and everyone is looking to progress from a point where everyone was stood still. So, it’s super busy at the moment.

What are the most significant current trends in the market?

Outside of traditional lending and consumer credit, one of the things that we've seen in the market is SME lending, which is huge at the moment. I think what we're finding there, across Europe, it’s perhaps slightly less regulated to a certain degree.

There is real growth in that market and specifically towards SME's and what we're finding now is revenue-based finance companies coming into play.

This seems to be a massive topic and in terms of growth alongside buy now pay later, and we'll probably see more of it until the regulator comes along. The market has grown and diversified in products, which is quite an interesting place.

What trends are you seeing in client requirements?

With FinTech lenders, we need to see more commerciality or commercial acumen within more candidates. Naturally, what we've found is whether it's in credit or analytics, we want someone who's super technical. That's all good and well, and I think that's traditionally what people have looked for.

Now it's what do the analytics mean? How do you make a decision or make a business case to improve and grow the business? Or how does it affect the business? Rather than just pulling across data.

Trying to find people who understand commerciality - who understand business and how risk strategy and business strategy align is one of the toughest skill sets that we're finding, specifically across from manager level to C-suite (CROs or Chief Credit Officers). It's someone who understands the impact of the data and the analysis that they're doing.

What are we doing to help clients navigate these challenges?

We are looking to find the best people out there at all times based on recommendations, working via commitment, whether it's a retained search, especially when we're talking about more senior hires.

To deliver a full service where we are getting the best talent that ticks all the boxes, which I think is the most important thing and trying to find people that suit the business.

Alongside culture fit, which I think is pretty important at the moment as well, especially for some of the smaller businesses where we see more around working closely within a team.

I think alongside our search being purely technical. There’s been a lot around trying to understand people's personalities and whether they will tie in with the business and align with the business. Purely because your stakeholders naturally increase and you're working a lot closer with wider business units or the wider business. You need to have that skill set. Where you can get along with everyone, but also manage those stakeholders too.

What can clients do to get ahead of the competition?

I think it's about being pragmatic in your search. That's the main thing. What we're seeing now in this market is crazy in the sense of everyone is looking for the same thing, same skill set, the same type of person… but everyone is looking at the same time and probably looking later than they should have.

What clients need to do, especially where we've had the most success is to be pragmatic about their search. Be pragmatic about the skill sets that you need in the business and within specific teams.

The earlier you get ahead of that curve, the earlier you can shortlist candidates and refine that - you will get the best search.

For more information on how we can help you please contact Mahian:
Email: mahian.rab@interquestgroup.com
Phone: +447741 312 106