Trust success reflected in demand for staff

Thursday 12 July 2018

The trust sector’s growing productivity in Jersey, against a backdrop of wider problems in financial services, is reflected by increasing demand for staff, according to Optimus Recruitment.

Statistics Jersey recently published its finance and legal sector GVA and productivity report for 2017.

While it reported a decline in the contribution of the finance sector as a whole to the Jersey economy in 2017, there was positive news with the trust sector’s output rising by 9%, enjoying growth for a fourth consecutive year.

Renny Gould, Senior Consultant at Optimus Recruitment said: “These statistics certainly reflect the activity and demands we are seeing from certain sectors of the industry. In particular, both trust and company administration and funds services are crying out for people with between two to six years’ experience, while at the same time we are also seeing an increased demand for trainee level staff and for those at senior levels. Each of these growth areas need support teams and it is also in the areas of compliance and accounting we are seeing a good deal of activity.

“Whilst it is disappointing to see productivity fall by 3% and GVA also decrease, it is interesting to see certain sectors are flourishing: trust and company revenues increased by 14% and fund administration by 11%.

The average bonus within finance in 2017 was revealed to be £6,500, a rise of 12% on 2016. The largest pay-outs were recorded in the fund management sector with an average of £16,800 being offered, with trust and company employees enjoying an average annual £5,600 bonus. 

 Mr Gould added: “There is a real drive at present to attract and retain talent in financial institutions and financial incentives. Discretionary bonus linked to good employee and company performance, remains one of the key tools used.”