Emerging Cities Are Taking on Established Hubs for Graduates Seeking Careers in Finance

^{Students lounging in front of a building on the American University of Dubai campus. Photo: Liz Lawley/Flickr}

Dubai is the number one global destination for graduates who successfully complete a flagship graduate programme at deVere Group, one of the world’s largest independent financial advisory organizations.

On passing the intensive scheme, deVere Group routinely surveys and asks graduates in which location within the Group’s global network of offices they would like to start their international financial services career.  This year, 36% have responded with Dubai.

The second most popular is London (25%); Hong Kong is third (14 %); Mexico City is fourth (13%) and Moscow is fifth (6%). The remaining 6% is made up of other destinations including Shanghai, Geneva, Paris, and Abu Dhabi.

deVere Group CEO and founder Nigel Green comments:

“This survey highlights that the next generation of financial services professionals are open to look beyond the traditional and more established global financial hubs.

“The order of the top destinations changes with each group of grads we take on, but Dubai, London, and Hong Kong are typically in the top five somewhere.”

New global hubs represent centers of enormous possibilities for finance, commerce, and technology.

Mr. Green explains why they are seeing this shift happening amongst young, ambitious financial services professionals:

“This is because, quite understandably, these global hubs of finance, commerce and technology represent centers of enormous possibilities for ambitious individuals about to embark on careers as international wealth-advisory and fintech professionals.

“There are some common traits amongst these cities, including that English is commonly spoken, they are politically and economically stable, there is a high level of internationally-minded high net worth individuals, and by relocating to these places one can usually expect comparatively high financial rewards.”

He continues:

“What is different this year is that for the first time emerging financial hub cities are making the top five. Mexico City and Moscow are now actively competing for top talent with well-established international financial centers like Shanghai, Geneva, and Tokyo.

“All these global destinations are unique and differ from each other in terms of the lifestyle they offer and in terms of clients’ expectations, economic environments and regulatory conditions.

“With each of the top five cities offering unique opportunities and challenges, each one attracts grads who have often quite markedly different strengths and weaknesses, skill sets and aspirations,” notes Mr. Green.

“The results of this survey suggest that despite the pandemic, talented young people seeking a rewarding career are keen to look for opportunities internationally.”

The deVere CEO concludes:

“With a globally-focused outlook from the wealth advisers and fintech professionals of the future, we can expect this trend of emerging hub cities to take on stalwart destinations to continue for the foreseeable future.”