Playing it safe: Singapore banks cautious on Q3 employment prospects

A strong year is not enough to ease hiring doubts.

A hefty 35% of all Singapore-based banks and financial services businesses expanded their recruitment activity in Q1, a survey by recruitment firm Astbury Marsden revealed.

But employers are becoming more cautious about prospects for hiring in the next quarter, with Astbury Marsden’s Employer’s Optimism Index down to 41.3 points.

This shows a decline of 11.8 points from Q1 2014’s 53.1 points. A score below 50 reflects a negative sentiment on jobs.

“Recent, somewhat downbeat, news from some of the global banks on their investment banking arms, particularly their fixed income currency and commodities businesses, underline the reasons why there is still such caution about hiring despite a fairly strong year so far,” noted Mark O’Reilly, Managing Director of Asia Pacific at Astbury Marsden.