Q3’ 21 was marked by surging interest in commodities and financial skills from investors in crypto currency. Meanwhile, the net-zero push is leading key sectors such as insurance companies to invest in new talents to bolster capabilities and products. In fact, growing pressure for businesses to track and manage their carbon footprint is set to further shape corporate recruitment.
HC Group has seen an interesting trend develop in Q3 ‘21 with crypto currency businesses becoming increasingly keen to hire new talent from the commodity sector as well as from financial services. The reasons for this interest are due to the similarities between the two markets when it comes to OTC structuring, bilateral trading agreements, and the legal frameworks that are generally used for transactions. We anticipate this hiring trend to continue well into next year as HC Group continues to partner closely with companies in this space. The crypto currency industry faces a variety of challenges, from volatile valuations to hacking scandals, regulation issues, and concerns around insurability. While it is still viewed as risky, there are many opportunities for investors, professional services firms, and speciality insurers to work with the crypto sector. As such, there is growing interest in developing specialist practices and products to service this industry.
Across most commodities sectors, environmental concerns have been one of the main drivers of recruitment activity within corporate functions over the past quarter. For insurance companies in particular, people with experience in areas such as renewable energy and sustainability have been in high demand. Some insurance companies are launching sustainability-influenced products aimed at the growing number of firms setting net-zero emissions targets or boosting their use of renewables. Insurers could also derive a “green premium” from stakeholders for exiting carbon-intensive industries, such as coal, oil, and gas.
Pressure on businesses from many sides to show more of an awareness of environmental issues could continue to affect future recruitment trends. Corporates are increasingly expected to track, manage, and monitor information on their own carbon emissions by stakeholders. But many are failing to do this according to new research by think tank Carbon Tracker and the Climate Accounting Project. Initiatives such as the Financial Stability Board’s Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) are working to establish climate reporting as the norm for businesses. A lack of awareness of environmental responsibility is already starting to affect how consumers and other stakeholders view companies in most industries.
As such, a failure to disclose information on key environmental issues such as emissions could have a detrimental impact on reputation, share price, investor appetite, and the availability of finance. This rapidly growing interest in environmental reporting will most likely continue to affect the kind of skills and experience these companies will be interested in when hiring now and in the future.
Spotlight on compliance
Compliance has been a particularly busy market for HC Group in Q3’ 21 with multiple chief compliance officer placements globally across North America, Europe, and the Middle East. The growth in the market compared to previous years led HC Group to sponsoring the recent 1LOD Energy Trading Surveillance Deep Dive conference on 14 and 15 September 2021. The event was a well-attended success with a panel of senior compliance professionals across the energy trading sector discussing a wide variety of challenges facing the surveillance of their industry. Insightful contributions from the compliance leadership of Axpo, Shell, BP, Statkraft, RWE, OMV, Engie, and Drax ensured a lively dialogue and debate was made possible.