Shanghai sees urgent demand for asset management professionals

Mar 2, 2021 Hubbis

In Shanghai this year, many financial institutions have expanded their search for wealth management professionals.

A report from the China Banking Association shows that the number of high net-worth individuals in the country had reached 1.32 million at the end of 2019, accounting for 20 percent of those in the Asia-Pacific region. Each of them has at least 10 million yuan in hand, and they need professionals to help them manage their money, as reported by CGTN.

"We want to create more job opportunities for fresh graduates because the pandemic made the job market more challenging. Meanwhile, the demand for wealth management professionals is huge. We are in urgent need of wealth management managers and people who know about digitalization," Julia Chu, head of human resources at DBS Bank China, said.

The skills training center operated by the Swiss Institute for Financial Planning in Shanghai is seeing rising demand. It is planning new classes to offer lessons on personal wealth management, insurance, taxation and legal regulation. The school's dean, Men Feng, says high net-worth individuals have sophisticated wealth management demands, and there is an urgent need for professionals to serve them.

The Shanghai government says the number of professionals working in the city's finance industry has reached more than 470,000, double the figure of a decade ago. During 2020 alone, China's commercial banks had set up six new wealth management firms in Shanghai. As China's economy grows, the demand for the money managers is expected to grow further.