Forget London – Australians are going to Asia to snap up middle and back-office jobs. There are plenty of opportunities across a wide range of functions, says Louise Langridge, of recruiter Morgan McKinley.

Risk roles are flavour of the month and demand is strong in operations (with good product knowledge) and compliance, especially at mid to senior management level, she adds.

IT gurus should board a plane to Singapore, according to one IT recruiter who asked not to be named. He reckons Asian-born Australians in particular are flooding into the city. Langridge comments: “Whilst there continues to be some uncertainty in regards to the outlook of the global financial services market at present, there are still skills shortages and Australian accountants in particular remain very much in demand across the Asia-Pacific region.”

Nick Burnham, partner at recruiter Pagoda Partners in Singapore, adds: “Australia has always been a good hunting ground for us. Singapore is a growing market for wealth management and asset management and we find great candidates from Australia.”

But for some banks this is nothing new. HSBC spokeswoman Kate Epworth says: “The flow of Australian talent to our regional headquarters in Hong Kong has always been strong and numbers lately have been pretty consistent. HSBC has been in Asia a long time so it’s natural for our people to go there and consistent with our strategy that people have international exposure. For us, the flow of talent to Asia is not a seasonal shift.”