Complexities, ambiguities, competing priorities and shifting demands make up the new global marketplace of financial services.

Survival and success within this environment demand people who are creative, digitally savvy and can adapt quickly to constant change.

According to the 19th Annual Global CEO Survey, 70% of financial services CEOs see the limited availability of skills as a threat to growth and competitiveness. But, less than 30% are changing their focus on the skills and adaptability of their people.

Does this lack of action demonstrate that financial service companies aren’t willing to explore alternatives to their tried and true strategies?

Disruption As An Opportunity
This survey covers in detail this conundrum for financial services business leaders and makes its own recommendations. It concludes that a new mindset is required as much as a new skillset.

“… we believe it’s time to go back to basics in determining what talent your business needs and how it can be hired, built, motivated and retained within the constraints on skills availability and financial resources.” – Jon Terry, Global Financial Services, HR Consulting Leader, PwC

“Even with all the new technology, people skills are actually more important now. Whether it’s providing day-to-day services in our bank branches or managing our data analytics, it’s all about people. So the risk is, can we hire, retain, and develop the top talent and, frankly, will they be happy working here?” – Brian Moynihan. Chief Executive Officer of Bank of America Corporation US

There are significant opportunities ahead for reinvigorating growth and re-engaging with customers, employees and society as a whole. Implementing effective people practices is one of the keys to achieving this.

Key Talent Findings in The Financial Services Industry
Shifting demands, competing priorities:
Adjusting to the new talent realities in financial services

19th Annual Global CEO Survey/February 2016
[Based on a survey of 1,409 CEOs in 83 countries and a range of industries in the last quarter of 2015, and face-to-face interviews with 33 CEOs.]

Download HERE.

If you are looking to replace or upgrade your staff, please contact Robert Pestreich for a complimentary consultation.

Call Harrison, Stone & Associates at 212.687.3030.
Follow @rpharrisonstone

You might be surprised to learn that even talent magnets like Google, Yahoo, Facebook, Apple and Twitter are in a war for talent and doing some interesting things in hiring that you may not know about.

The aim of this article is to introduce you to some of these strategies and let you know how an executive search firm like Harrison Stone can help you out.

Aqui-hiring Strategy

One of the most aggressive strategies employed by top companies for recruiting talent is aqui-hiring. This strategy involves acquiring startups by established organizations. The technology industry has practiced this for decades. The acquisition may not be just for a company’s products, but also to quickly get hold of an entire team of talented employees before a competitor.

This hiring strategy was originated by large tech firms, but Cloud technology has made it possible for all organizations to access and hire talent globally.

“Facebook has not once bought a company for the company itself. We buy companies to get excellent people,” Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been quoted as saying,

Lift-out Strategy

A less aggressive strategy compared to aqui-hiring is the lift-out strategy. A ‘Lift-out’ involves the recruitment of an intact team rather than acquiring the entire organization. This strategy potentially delivers all the benefits that the aqui-hire strategy provides without either the expense or aggression associated with aqui-hiring.

Many growing companies are hiring high-functioning groups of people who have been working together effectively within one company and can rapidly come up to speed in a new environment. These lifted-out teams don’t need to get acquainted with one another or to establish shared values, mutual accountability, or group norms; their long-standing relationships and trust help them make an impact very quickly.

The process is not without risks. A failed lift-out can lead to loss of money, opportunity and credibility. Regardless of industry, nationality, or size of the team, a successful lift out unfolds over four consecutive, interdependent stages that must be perfectly managed.

1. In the courtship stage, the hiring company and the leader of the targeted team determine whether the proposed move is a good idea, then define their business goals and discuss strategies. At the same time, the team leader discusses the potential move with the other members of his or her group to assess their level of interest and prepare them for the change.
2. The second stage involves the integration of the team leader with the new company’s top leadership. This ensures the team’s access to senior executives – the most important factor in a lift-out’s success.
3. The third stage focuses on integrating operations. Teams will start out working with the same or similar clients, vendors, and industry standards.
4. The final stage involves full cultural integration. The lifted-out team members must be willing to re-earn credibility by proving their value and winning their new colleagues’ trust.

When a lift-out is planned and executed well, the expertise and experience of the group will give a boost to your company’s bottom line almost immediately.

No matter how a lift-out is executed, it is a disruptive event that a client has to face. A team lift-out can be a far more economical way to enter a business instead of buying a firm. Harrison, Stone & Associates has the expertise to help you in identifying and hiring the right team.

Purple Squirrels

Bagging Purple Squirrels, the “game changers” who are indeed a rare color for a rodent, is another approach to recruiting top notch employees.

Different from an average employee, so-called Purple Squirrels generally never apply for an open position, cannot be contacted through traditional methods, and are known to sit on multiple job offers at one time.

Purple Squirrels are hard to attract, but easy to find, even though they make up less than 1% of the workforce. They’re busy receiving awards, leading seminars, giving the keynote at industry conferences, leading online forums and quoted in trade magazines.

They are motivated by the work they do, not by money or perks!

These outside-the-box thinkers and 24×7 innovators have the next big ideas and the potential to change the course of your organization.

If you are looking to replace or upgrade your staff, please contact Robert Pestreich for a complimentary consultation.

Call Harrison, Stone & Associates at 212.687.3030.
Follow @rpharrisonstone

While the economy is at its strongest in years, new federal regulations post recession of 2008 have given financial industry CEOs much to ponder.

Five critical issues are set to dominate financial services in 2016. Here are the words and trends confronting today’s financial industry.

1. Dodd Frank influence
Dodd-Frank demands that financial service professionals make significant changes to the way they conduct business. [Read more…]

Does your business have a comprehensive risk management strategy? These days risk management must respond to an environment of continual regulatory change and ever more demanding expectations.

It’s imperative for brands to develop world-class risk management strategies that identify and manage risk before it negatively impacts their business.

Risk Management. Operating in the New Normal.

Financial institutions continue to make progress in many areas of risk management. Boards of directors are devoting more time to risk management. Prevailing practice now includes having a chief risk officer position and an enterprise risk management program.

If your business is considering revamping their existing risk management strategy or you’re in need of creating one, below is a list of important steps to consider.

1. Appoint a Risk Management Council

Before you start developing a strategy, you must appoint a risk management council that will be responsible for reviewing, identifying, and managing loss exposures. This council should be comprised of employees within various departments in your company. They should all be aware of their role in the prevention of risk and be held accountable for making their teams aware of risk management best practices.

2. Conduct a Risk Assessment

Now that you’ve appointed a risk management council, you need to make a list of all the potential risks that could impact your business.

3. Prioritize Your List of Risks

After you’ve identified a list of risks, you need to perform a risk assessment to determine the likelihood that they will happen and the impact they would have on your business as a whole. Once you’ve done this, you can better prioritize risks into two columns—high-risks and low-risks.

4. Track and Monitor Risks

Now that you’ve identified and prioritized your risks, it’s time to track and monitor the risks. For example, a contractor with a satisfactory performance record to date could experience financial or operational difficulties that negatively impact that contractor’s ability to perform. For this reason, it’s important that you keep ahead of risks by continually monitoring things like your suppliers, competitors, and industry trends.

5. Regularly Evaluate Your Risk Management Plan

It’s important that you regularly evaluate and update your risk management plan every quarter. Ask yourself the following questions: Is there appropriate monitoring of the risk management process to ensure it continues to function properly? Are there adequate processes to ensure risks are appropriately identified? Are department heads doing a good job in informing their team of risks and how to prevent them?

The tidal wave of regulatory developments created by the global financial crisis shows no signs of abating, especially for large institutions. Surveys show that increasing regulatory requirements and expectations are extremely challenging for most institutions.

Thus, implementing a risk management strategy is more critical than ever before to your company’s success.

Resources:

Contact Harrison, Stone & Associates at 212.687.3030.
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Over the past five years, the financial services industry has witnessed dramatic shifts in the regulatory landscape. As a result of economic crises around the globe, financial institutions are subject to new and complex regulatory mandates. Here are some of the primary considerations for bank management.

Capital management is at the heart of most of these initiatives. Financial regulations have been evolving at an unprecedented pace across all segments of the industry as a result of these various initiatives:

• Stress testing requirements under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act
• Comprehensive Capital Analysis and Review (CCAR) exercises conducted by the Federal Reserve Board
• Implementation of Basel II and Basel III regulatory capital frameworks

Capital reform will ultimately create a paradigm shift for many banking organizations as they reevaluate business models, core product and service offerings, and revenue sources. The effort usually requires months to plan and years to fully implement, requiring real changes to business models, operations, and governance.

Liquidity
The global financial crisis of 2007–2008 highlighted the fact that even well-capitalized banks can fail. This finding prompted a new focus on bank liquidity, and resulted in both international and domestic efforts to introduce a new liquidity framework, including measures and disclosures

Comprehensive Capital Analysis and Review
The Federal Reserve published final CCAR rules in November of 2011. They apply to bank holding companies with average total consolidated assets of US$50 billion.

Difficult and costly, CCAR implementation requires extra costs in infrastructure, data and analytics, system connectivity solutions, and human capital. Banks subject to CCAR requirements must produce specific information beginning early January every year: projected annual income statement, balance sheet, and capital ratios; stress test scenarios, forecasts, comprehensive capital plan and asset data.

Data, Systems, and Infrastructure
The high cost of managing data is a constant concern for management, especially those in the financial services industry where a complex regulatory environment continues to puts pressure on operating margins.

Over the coming years financial institutions will continue to struggle with massive regulatory change and adapt to doing business in the post financial crisis environment.

To learn more –

Download the Capital Management Services 32-page report by KPMG,
the global audit, tax, and consulting firm.