Brief: CEO turnover spiked in the first half of 2021, as companies tapped new talent to navigate the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic and stressed-out chief executives sought a career change, a study from recruiting firm Heidrick & Struggles found. The findings illustrate how CEOs are not immune to the exhaustion that has swept hundreds of millions of workers worldwide since the onset of the pandemic and has pushed many to consider a new job or lifestyle in a wave dubbed "The Great Resignation." "Our belief is that it will only accelerate going into next year as people have delayed their retirements," said Jeff Sanders, co-managing partner of Heidrick's global CEO and board practice. There were 103 CEO appointments in the first half of 2021 out of 1,095 companies in 24 regions that Heidrick studied, including the United States, China and some European countries.
Brief: The boss of HSBC Holdings Plc, the biggest bank in Hong Kong, said he won’t do anything that would put the city’s efforts to open up travel to mainland China at risk, even as criticism of the financial hub’s zero-Covid policy grows. In an interview at the Bloomberg New Economy Forum in Singapore, Chief Executive Officer Noel Quinn said he currently has no plans to visit the city, the lender’s biggest market. “It’s important for Hong Kong to establish what they need to establish with China on reopening,” he said in an interview with Francine Lacqua. “I don’t want to do anything that may jeopardize that. I would love to get back to Hong Kong as soon as I can and when the authorities feel it’s right for me to go back, I will.” The finance industry has been ratcheting up pressure on Hong Kong to ease its quarantine rules and abandon its zero-Covid policy amid concern it is becoming increasingly difficult to recruit and retain talent.
Brief: Asset managers need to rethink the way they hire, manage, and keep the best people — and fast. Industry executives agree that the pandemic has fundamentally changed the way people want to work and managers need to take those changes seriously and invest in training and support services to make it all function. On Thursday, Deloitte provided some evidence for the big post-pandemic shift. The so-called workplace talent model will continue to change next year, according to Deloitte’s 2022 investment management outlook report released Thursday. Based on a survey of 400 senior investment management executives from July to August of this year, the consulting firm expects that asset managers will invest what’s needed and strengthen their talent organizations. That includes everything from work-from-home policies, comprehensive training, and infrastructure; diversity equity and inclusion; and strategies to communicate a sense of purpose to employees, among other things.
Brief: The increased use of automated trading is turning asset managers into liquidity makers rather than liquidity takers and has prompted sell-side market makers to call for an overhaul of market rules.This is the finding of a new report into equity and fixed income markets commissioned by the FIA EPTA, the trade association for market-making firms.The report, Turning the Tables on Liquidity Provision, written by Redlap Consulting, found that the greater use of automated trading, driven by the pandemic, has given buy-side firms greater access to a wider range of trading partners and reduced their reliance on traditional sell-side market makers.More than two-thirds (67%) of asset managers now see transparency as a key factor in their selection of liquidity partners while a similar number (70%) said that data and technology play a greater role in deciding where they trade.
Brief: Bank of Nova Scotia plans to start a phased return-to-office plan for headquarters employees who are still working remotely on Jan. 17, marking a major commitment for a broad return from one of Canada’s largest banks. The return will be staggered for different groups, and the majority of head-office employees will be working in a hybrid model, spokesman Clancy Zeifman said in an e-mailed statement Wednesday. All employees at Toronto-based Scotiabank will be required to follow the bank’s mandatory vaccination policy. Canada’s banks have kept the majority of their headquarters employees working remotely as the country has maintained many of its pandemic safety measures into the fall. Scotiabank’s target date for a broad return was selected based on guidance from medical advisers and in consultation with the government, Zeifman said.