Recruiting in China

BEIJING, CHINA: China has kicked off its first global hiring campaign for money managers to help invest its US$2.3 trillion (S$3.2 trillion) of foreign exchange reserves, the world's largest stockpile, an official said.

The State Administration of Foreign Exchange (Safe) is seeking to improve returns on its bulging reserves and it recognises that the tumult in global financial markets has left many bankers looking for new jobs, a Safe official told Reuters.

'It is time for us to hunt talent from overseas financial markets, as the post-crisis economic outlook becomes clear to financial professionals and their institutions,' said the official, who declined to be named.

The administration posted job advertisements on its website in October for positions ranging from portfolio managers to research staff, though the hiring campaign has remained low-key so far. The official declined to say how many foreigners Safe hopes to bring on board.

Analysts said the global hiring campaign was part of the agency's drive to diversify China's currency reserves, a long-standing official goal. 'With our foreign exchange reserves growing, the team of staff that manages the reserve assets should also be strengthened,' said Professor Ding Zhijie at the University of International Business and Economics.

China Investment Corp, the country's US$300 billion sovereign wealth fund, has staged two rounds of global hiring since its inception in 2007.

Safe employs about 200 reserve managers, 80 per cent of whom hold master's degrees or higher and 40 per cent of whom hold internationally recognised professional certificates.