Asia Job Outlook

Malaysia, Indonesia,Thailand the New Frontiers of Asia

Written by Kyle Stock

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.

Below are some basic stats on the emerging emerging markets of Asia:

Indonesia

Credit rating: Ba1

GDP growth since 2008: 17.6%

Personal spending growth since 2008: 15%

Unemployment rate: 7.1%

The engine in Indonesia is human capital. As the fourth-most populous nation, the country is a consumption powerhouse. That isn't lost on Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley who are reportedly jockeying to buy Indonesian broker Tiga Pilar Sekuritas. If the deal gets done, look for a tide of wealth-management talent flowing in from the States.

Malaysia

Credit rating: A3

GDP growth since 2008: 8.7%

Personal spending growth since 2008: 13.2%

Unemployment rate: 3.4%

Malaysia now has a bank for every one million or so residents, crowding that has spurred its lenders to look for business all over Asia. The country is also a high-tech hub, an attribute that has won a lot of back-office work from finance firms worldwide.

Philippines

Credit rating: Ba2

GDP growth since 2008: 14.5%

Personal spending growth since 2008: 11.7%

Unemployment rate: 7.2%

The Philippines is another attractive market for wealth managers. Workers around the world consistently send more money back to this island nation than almost any other country. Only India, China and Mexico have more remittances.

Like Malaysia, the Philippines is also a popular hub for back-office bank support.

Thailand

Credit rating: Baa1

GDP growth since 2008: 6.6%

Personal spending growth since 2008: 6.2%

Unemployment rate: .42%

Thai banks are some of the world's most resilient, according to a recent Deutsche Bank report. As if to buttress that claim, Bank of Thailand Governor Prasarn Trairatvorakul recently said his country's finance sector would be largely unaffected by the European debt crisis.

Vietnam

Credit rating: B1

GDP growth since 2008: 33.4%

Personal spending growth since 2008: 31.6%

Unemployment rate: 4.4%

Though it has been plagued by inflation, Vietnam is still a manufacturing darling, welcoming assembly lines from Japan and other more affluent areas.

It's also in the process of opening closely held state enterprises to the markets at large. Just a few days ago, the government sold a 15% stake in its Vietcombank to Japan-based Mizuho Financial Group for $567 million. Credit Suisse brokered the deal.

Source: Moody's, Thompson Reuters

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