Malaysia, Indonesia,Thailand the New Frontiers of Asia
China and India have long been called the “Wild West” of contemporary business and lands of unlimited upside. People forget that in the original Wild West, every yahoo with a pick-axe and a gold pan showed up. In Asia today, the savviest finance professionals are looking further afield, prospecting in a rash of smaller markets benefitting from the boom of bigger neighbors, but lacking the bustle. “There’s clearly an acknowledgment that this is where the growth is,” said David Webbe, the head of Southeast Asia for recruiting giant Korn/Ferry. “And a good banker wants to exercise their skills in a market that is dynamic and will reward them.”
In recent months, Webbe’s team has been on the hunt for commodities and currency traders, capital markets professionals and consumer bankers, among others. While China and India keep growing, they have pulled surrounding countries along in their tracks. Labor markets are strengthening all over these tiny markets. Consider, for example, the unemployment rate in Thailand: 0.42% (yes, the decimal point is in the correct place). Or a new fund launched by HSBC in May dubbed CIVETS. Intending to target the newest and hottest emerging markets in the way the BRIC moniker did; the “I” and “V” stand for Indonesia and Vietnam. What’s more, professionals in many smaller countries often don’t have the same level of education, so a degree from the West can open doors quickly.
“People like to hire Asian bankers who have a Western influence,” Webbe said. “The perfect balance is a young man or woman who is Singaporean or Indonesian and has been educated in the United States or Australia.” Cartus Corp., a global relocation firm, has seem a big uptick in business in Malaysia, Indonesia and Mongolia among others, said Kenneth Kwek, managing director for the region. Kwek and his team have been lining up housing and language lessons for managers of big global companies who are rotated through Asia on two- to three-year tenures. “If you look at the economy on a whole, these markets are some of the only places where results are way up,” Kwek said.