During the first quarter of the current year, there was a slight increase in the hiring of local financial executives in Chile, as compared with the last quarter of last year. According to a study by Seminarium Penrhyn, reported in this Tuesday’s Diario Financiero, the increase was of 3.5%, while the last quarter in 2012 showed an increase of 2.7%.
During the first part of the year, there were 44 hires of first line executives, as opposed to the 34 recorded for the last part of 2012. AFPs -pension funds- was the sector showing greater executive mobility, increasing from 6.5% recorded for last year´s October-December quarter, to 8.7% during the January-March period of the current year. Mutual fund asset managers (AGFs) were in second place with an increase of 5.2%, although this sector slowed down as compared to the 6.8% they recorded last quarter, as explained by Rafael Rodriguez, President of Seminarium Penrhyn.
The report indicates that the general insurance sector only hired at a rate of 1.5%, while multi-family offices showed no movement at all.
Regarding the origin of new hires, internal movements accounted for 73% of all cases, as compared to the 59% for the last quarter. In this respect, two hires stand out: Ignacio and Diego Yarur, sons of the president of BCI Bank, as managing directors for Banco Retail and Banco Comercial, respectively. Both of them had been executives at their respective banks for several years filling key executive positions.
Despite the increase, which shows a higher performance as compared to the three last months of 2012, Rodriguez notes that the 3.5% increase recorded during January to March period of the current year is lower than the 5.8% increase recorded for the same period last year. “There is a consistent decrease, with some sectors showing little or no movement at all, and this points to a trend of less hires of top executives in the current year, as compared to 2012”.
The report indicates that the most hired professionals in the financial sector are those with university degrees, mainly specialized commercial and civil engineers, representing 34% and 32% of all hires respectively. On the other hand, hiring of accountant/auditors increased during the first quarter from 3% to 11%; while hiring of lawyers increased from 3% to 5%.
Finally, it should be noted that hiring of foreign professionals decreased by almost 50%, going from 15% to 7% in the period being reported.