JPMorgan plans major expansion.

Global financial services firm JPMorgan is looking to ramp up its headcount and a fresh recruitment drive is expected throughout its operations across Asia, according to a senior executive.

Caroline Johnston, head of human resources Asia-Pacific, said despite uncertainty in some areas of the financial services industry, the firm remained committed to stable growth.

The company is one of the few global financial organisations to experience negative impact linked to the United States subprime crisis and the subsequent credit crunch. Analysts said that this commitment would prove JPMorgan's ability to expand on investments even in the toughest of circumstances.

JPMorgan plans to add about 1,900 new employees to its staff level in Hong Kong - where it now employs about 3,200 people - over the next three years.

The bank has leased office space at One Island East in Quarry Bay on Hong Kong Island.

"We have firm plans to increase employee levels across nearly all areas of our business activities in Hong Kong including our private banking operation," said Ms Johnston, who is responsible for human resources activities in 15 Asian countries ranging from India to Australia.

The firm has grown from about 15,000 staff to its headcount of about 19,000 across Asia since 2005. India and the Philippines have been the major focus of recent recruitment initiatives where the firm has been strengthening its customer service and back-office support staff capabilities.

India is the centre for much of the firm's high-end operational and research activities which provide support for JPMorgan's bankers around the region.

India is also home to a high percentage of the firm's global financial reporting requirements.

"We have grown tremendously over the past couple of years and still have huge expansion plans for the Asia-Pacific region, which means we also have huge recruitment plans as well," Ms Johnston said.

The firm must nurture and maintain its own talent pipeline to meet its expansion and service objectives.

"We not only look for people with financial skills but also people with a broad range of skills including legal, compliance, technology and operations experience," Ms Johnston said.

She said the organisation had a reputation for attracting high-calibre job candidates and was prepared to invest in people who showed strong potential.

Ms Johnston said her career with JPMorgan began in Scotland, where she set up an application development centre in Glasgow. After three years she moved to India, where she took responsibility for the technology operation in the firm's investment bank activities, before moving to her present position.

"My experience shows there are plenty of opportunities to move around within the organisation and geographically," Ms Johnston said.

She said the India and the Philippines recruitment campaigns were part of a diversified expansion plan to grow front-office revenue generation capabilities, investment bank, private bank and treasury and security services.

JPMorgan hubs are centred in Mumbai and Bangalore in India, and Manila in the Philippines.

While the firm is recruiting many employees, candidates must still meet stringent internal hiring requirements and various criteria normal in financial services.

More than 50 per cent of candidates in the Philippines were recommended by existing staff while the majority of staff in India were recruited through agencies.

In jurisdictions where employee requirements are less, or where people are needed for specific functions, the firm takes a more targeted approach to hiring.

"Our expansion is creating exciting employment opportunities for high-end investment and private bankers, technology support staff and legal and compliance people," Ms Johnston said.

She said new recruits could look forward to extensive on-the-job training and practices, and training programmes designed to boost skill levels to perform specialist functions.

Programmes have also been designed to develop soft skills such as people management and business management techniques.

Graduate recruits also receive mentoring, peer support and additional training through informal development channels.

The firm is adding strength to its recruitment programmes by offering about 1,500 graduate internships to graduates from the Asian region.

"No matter where they are recruited from, when people join JPMorgan's graduate recruitment programmes they take part in the same global training programmes in New York, London and Mumbai.

"Our recruitment policies are designed with an international perspective, which is one of the big draws of joining our organisation.

"The scale of the bank and global network provide career development and mobility opportunities across regions and globally," Ms Johnston said.

"JPMorgan has a good reputation in the marketplace. People understand what our value proposition is and what differentiates us from our competitors," she said.

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