With an increased focus on cash forecasting during COVID, and a change to working practices as a result of the pandemic which has seen many treasury teams now working in a hybrid environment, they wondered whether this trend was reflected in the skills recruiters are looking for and working conditions, and whether there were consistencies in treasury recruitment market around the world.
In this blog we asked a recruiter in Australia, the Middle East and Europe to provide some background on treasury recruitment in their market and some insight into how this has changed over the last year.
Gareth El Mettouri, Branch Director, Robert Half UAE
Gareth has over 19 years' experience working at Robert Half, and currently looks after the strategic development of Robert Half’s UAE Finance & Accounting division specialising in senior level appointments.
We have seen a significant increase in mid-management to senior level treasury roles created over the past 12 months. The right talent is in short supply though, as the local candidate pool across the GCC is very light, and more clients are therefore pushed to look for suitable candidates abroad. Businesses need to pull out all the stops to attract the right talent, especially with rents having increased at the fastest rate in eight years, which makes moving to the UAE as an expat much more expensive than before. Employers are sensitive to this and have adapted accordingly.
Key technical skills such as investment management, forecasting, financial modelling and reporting are essential, while top sought after soft skills are stakeholder management, languages (Arabic/English and French), as well as solid communication skills and the ability to keep multiple stakeholders engaged and on the same page. In the post pandemic world, we have increasingly seen the demand for professionals with a successful track record in virtual/hybrid cross-functional collaboration, while those comfortable with AI and automation tools for data processing and analysis are also in high demand.
We have seen a high demand of candidates who are ACT qualified, as well as for those who have experience in raising debt, restructuring loans (for example, in the context of the recent Fed induced interest rate changes) and FX (with regards to significant fluctuations with currencies across GCC to other major currencies).
Cash management/cash forecasting and working capital knowledge are all crucial, while candidates who have experience of working with e-payments and e-collections are also in demand as companies look to introduce other payment methods, such as Apple Pay.
While salaries are not growing in precise line with inflation, businesses are taking steps to make sure the cost of living is less restrictive for employees, especially when it comes to attracting expats. Extra bonus payments and increased allowances for housing or healthcare are not uncommon. According to the Robert Half UAE 2023 Salary Guide, 31% of employees say that their employer has already increased such regular allowances. And with 47% of expats currently living in the UAE saying they would consider moving back to their home country due to the rising cost of living, businesses not only have the challenge to navigate talent shortages and retain employees, but also to plan for overall remuneration packages that would make moving to the region attractive to top foreign talent.
Rachael Crocker, Partner – BeNeLux, Brewer Morris
Rachael Crocker leads Brewer Morris in Europe, and is based in their Amsterdam office where she focuses mainly on the BeNeLux region. Rachael has worked in treasury recruitment since 2007.
The treasury skillset has remained in demand across Europe throughout the last 12 months. Brexit, the pandemic and the subsequent economic uncertainty in the EU have all increased the focus on FX, interest rates and liquidity across most sectors and countries. We haven’t necessarily seen treasury teams in Europe growing significantly in terms of headcount and greater automation drives efficiency, instead we have witnessed an upskilling of departments with greater focus on hiring talent that is strategic and analytical, with a considerable emphasis on navigating the future and building excellent relationships across the organization to ensure that treasury is really plugged into what is happening and well positioned to manage risk with a proactive approach.
The analytical skillset is in higher demand than ever before and COVID has certainly played a part in this, as the European countries went into lockdown, the focus on liquidity and forecasting was more intense than ever before as companies entered unchartered territory, the best way for them to ensure the stability of their business was to closely manage and analyse the cash flow, foreign exchange exposure and impact of interest rates. This approach has proven to be highly effective, and most organisations continue focusing on these areas and so require treasury professionals with these skills. In terms of soft skills, strong relationship-building has always been essential to a successful treasury strategy but with the new world of agile working and less time spent together in the office, the ability to build a strong rapport with colleagues and to take a proactive approach to collaboration is more important than ever.
Strong debt management experience is in very high-demand at the moment, with many SME or start-up organsiations facing challenges when it comes to raising finance or refinancing in a more volatile interest rate market. Cash management is always an in-demand area for treasury teams, but there is currently increased focus given the less stable economic climate in Europe with organisations keen to ensure they can navigate the future with accurate forecasting and good visibility of liquidity. Most sectors remain interested in the treasury skillset but in particular, we have seen a rise in the number of roles within heavy industries such as manufacturing, engineering and infrastructure. Retail and FMCG remain quite constant and tech is experiencing a slowdown after a very busy spell.
We experienced a very competitive candidate market throughout 2022 and this resulted in some salaries being inflated in the race to secure talent. This has steadied and, whilst candidates are definitely factoring in the rising cost of living and inflation to salary negotiations, we are seeing much more sensible salary increases than this time last year. As large international corporates continue to choose the Netherlands as a key hub for Europe,
Simon Lynch, Managing Director, Davey Lynch Treasury Talent
Simon has been a treasury recruiter in Australia, Singapore and Hong Kong since 2012, and more recently added the United States & Canada to his remit.
The Australian market is split into two distinct markets: junior roles below $200k and senior roles above. The junior market is always candidate led, and it is very difficult to find talent at this level, in part because university graduates are unlikely to have studied treasury as part of their degree.
The senior market is always driven by clients and competition. Competition is very strong for the more senior roles as there are fewer positions at this level.
Hybrid working has not taken off in treasury, with most roles still based in the office, although over the last few years this has been a shift to offer some flexibility with some days from home. This is a huge change from pre Covid times where no flexibility existed.
The skills requested by clients hasn’t changed as a result of COVID. The Australian market is dominated in treasury by domestic debt heavy infrastructure (e.g. government privatized assets like utilities, energy & ports, real estate and construction). The demand continues to be in the areas of funding and debt skillsets in the local market, hence good funding and debt capital markets skills are the most sort after across the Australian market by such companies.
For the Australian market, the hot area is debt funding, so anyone with experience in this is in high demand. During the COVID years, when interest rates were at all time lows, the ABS securitization market was very strong and as a result skills in securitization were in higher demand and continue to be so. Other skills that are in high demand are skills in hedge and derivative accounting along with TMS implementation and transformation skillsets.
I think anyone who has been in treasury for over a decade will confirm treasury is not a boom/bust sector, teams are always lean but they are critical to the business and if someone leaves they always get replaced.
Treasury salaries have not moved materially over the last five years. People move up the salary banding as they get more experience but salary bands in the Australian market have not changed materially in that time.
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Our thanks go to Gareth El Mettouri, Branch Director, Robert Half UAE, Rachael Crocker, Partner – BeNeLux, Brewer Morris and Simon Lynch, Managing Director, Davey Lynch Treasury Talent for their insightful comments. For futher information about the Future Leaders in Treasury group please visit www.treasurers.org/futureleaders
