Top places for working in iBanking?

little neros:

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whys dallas so hot?

Solidarity:

In terms of career progression, there's a huge dropoff after NYC and London. I'd say the next one down would be HK, but Beijing should be interesting in the upcoming decade.

Talked to one of the Wharton guys who worked at MS this summer in Singapore office, he had wanted the Hong Kong gig but couldn't get it because he doesn't speak Mandarin. So unless you're fluent in Mandarin and can edit a pitch book in Chinese, you're not getting into any of the Greater China office soon, no matter how great the growth prospect is :-s

Vancouver Canucks 2011:

If we are talking about growth opportunities, Shanghai/Beijing and Dubai would probably be next on my list. China has powerhouse industries in a lot of sectors but is still lacking a powerful global brand in terms of banking. It is a top priority on China's list and it may (imo) start heavily recruiting talented Chinese / Chinese-Americans to start building up a domestic franchise. Nonetheless, it is a moot point again for a lot of people since China has always been protective of its people and will always vastly prefer Chinese / Chinese-Americans over other candidates. Same for Dubai.

The big four commercial banks here, although publicly listed, are controlled by the state and therefore ultimately act for the benefit of the state. A Chinese bank will never lend to a foreigner unless they have a Chinese partner or it very directly benefits China. Same can be said for securities firms such as CITIC. They all have a mandate from the central government, so as long as there are SOEs or even private Chinese companies that need money, foreigners won't see much, if any.

As a result the people that are recruited by securities firms, foreign and domestic, even at the junior levels will have some sort of government connection. A junior person will be recruited because their mom or dad is a party member and has the connections to help make things move. This is true for foreign banks' staff as well.

The mentality is different here. This is still a communist country, and the banking system as a whole is quite a bit less developed than it is in the United States. A lot of developments were made under Jiang Zemin / Zhu Rongji, but have slowed under the current leadership and in light of the global financial crisis. Nothing will shift until next year at the absolute earliest when the leadership change occurs.