Survey: job market still slow for risk managers

Financial firms around the world are waiting for new regulations before hiring more risk personnel, a new survey has found.

The survey of risk and compliance officers, carried out in May and June by the London risk consultancy GRS, found that the deepening financial crisis in late 2008 forced them to shelve plans to expand their risk teams – while 80% had expected to hire more staff in May 2008, only 28% still expected to do so a year later. Meanwhile, the survey found, late 2008 saw a flood of job cuts, especially in audit and compliance. GRS chief executive Ken Brotherston commented: "There will be both upgrading and enlargement of risk functions, but only when there is more clarity around organsiational structures. We are already seeing this in a number of institutions that took government money and we fully expect this to spread across the vast majority of risk departments over the rest of this year and beyond."

Bonus pools were down 30–50%, the survey found, although GRS consultant Adrian Marples stated "it is likely that compensation structures will change again depending on how the market recovers and whether public outcry over 'bonus culture' dissipates". In response, base salaries have risen slightly, the survey found.

And despite the slowdown in hiring, driven mainly by tighter budgets across the company, 63% of risk professionals still said the crisis had been good for their careers, and most expected better job security in the near future. This was despite another finding that 43% felt risk managers in general failed to communicate risk effectively.

See also: Most risk managers still expect bonuses 
Job market still poor for risk professionals