Just when you thought offshore jobs were in decline, ANZ pops up with an expanded growth strategy for South East Asia. The bank hopes to be a trailblazer for other Australian firms as 'emerging Asia' comes to mean more than just China and India.

ANZ has strong penetration of Vietnam, Indonesia and Malaysia. And in Cambodia the three year-old ANZ Royal Bank is the largest in the market and has built up a team focusing on corporate and retail banking. Kim Reid, ANZ’s head of HR Asia Pacific, tells us there are “huge employment opportunities” in Cambodia and other emerging Asia countries.

ANZ will already have to compete for local talent in Asia with market leaders HSBC and Standard Chartered. And Peter Russell, KPMG’s head of banking in NSW, predicts demand for talent will increase explosively in these new banking markets, “especially when you know what we’ve seen so far is only the tip of the iceberg”.

He adds: “ANZ has done some clever things in Asia. In 1994, it was one of the only banks to issue credit cards in Vietnam. With mobile banking, ANZ had a good opportunity in Cambodia and took it.”

Australian-domiciled Asian nationals are in the perfect position to pick up emerging market banking jobs in Asia, says Katherine Anderson at recruiter Russell Reynolds.

Unfortunately, salaries in emerging markets don't measure up. A banking VP in Malaysia can expect to earn only US$65k-$90k in base pay.