The trust industry’s growing productivity against a backdrop of wider decline is reflected by increasing demand for staff in the sector, particularly for candidates with two to six years’ experience but also trainees, according to Optimus Recruitment.
Last week, Statistics Jersey published its finance and legal sector GVA and productivity report for 2017. The survey covers banks, fund managers, investment trusts, accountancy and legal firms.
While it reported a decline in the contribution of the finance sector as a whole to the Jersey economy in 2017, there was positive news to be taken from the report, with the trust sector’s output rising by nine per cent. The sub-sector has enjoyed growth now for a fourth consecutive year, allaying concerns over the industry’s future following new transparency laws and regulations.
Renny Gould, Senior Consultant at Optimus Recruitment said: “These statistics certainly reflect the activity and demands we are seeing from certain sectors of the industry. In particular, both trust and company administration and funds services are crying out for people with between two to six years’ experience, while at the same time we are also seeing an increased demand for trainee level staff and for those at senior levels. Each of these growth areas need support teams and it is also in the areas of compliance and accounting we are seeing a good deal of activity.
“Whilst it is disappointing to see productivity fall by three per cent and GVA also decrease, it is interesting to see certain sectors are flourishing: trust and company revenues increased by 14 per cent and fund administration by 11 per cent. Again, this is reflected in the number of roles we are currently working on in these sectors and the teams that support them. All of which demonstrates the industry’s excellent reputation with continued flows of news business and speed at which it reacts to and puts in place policies and procedures to meet new regulations.”
Another sector which experienced growth in terms of its GVA and productivity was accountancy. Recognising the demand for more qualified accountants in the Island, Optimus has recently welcomed a new consultant to its team, Natalie McMullen, who will be responsible for sourcing talent for the Accounting and HR sectors in Jersey.
The average bonus within finance in 2017 was revealed to be £6,500, a rise of 12 per cent on 2016. The largest pay-outs were recorded in the fund management sector with an average of £16,800 being offered, with trust and company employees enjoying an average annual £5,600 bonus.
Renny added: “There is a real drive at present to attract and retain talent in financial institutions and financial incentives. Discretionary bonus linked to good employee and company performance, remains one of the key tools used.”
