Currently less than a quarter of the global fintech talent is female – a stark contrast to the growing representation of female professionals in technology and financial services, which now stands at over a third.

This is according to research from recruitment firm Robert Walters, which also found that San Francisco fintech’s appear to have the most gender diverse teams – with 28 percent female representation

The percentage of roles held by women in fintech lags behind banking & technology.

The findings also show that females are more likely to assess company & job security, diversity policies, and enhanced maternity packages before applying for a job.

“It makes little sense why the representation of women within fintech is so low – in particular considering the difficulty in finding candidates. Fast-growing start-ups need to look beyond ‘quirky’ soft perks and consider adding more meaningful benefits that may attract female professionals,” says CEO of Robert Walters, Toby Fowlston.

 

A growth in tech jobs

Despite this, the global fintech sector has seen an exceptional +182 percent increase in tech job growth for the first quarter of 2022 – with the top 8 fintech ‘mega-hubs’ accounting for over 90 percent of all new fintech jobs advertised around the globe.

The research also shows that the sector will face major hurdles this year as an acute tech talent shortage around the globe threatens to halt the fintech growth machine.

“The forecast for organisations working in the global fintech market is a very positive one, however, their growth will be dependent on their ability to recruit and retain the right tech talent,” says Mr Fowlston.

 

Which part of the world sees the largest fintech job growth?

The USA has seen the biggest jump in new tech jobs within fintech – illustrating a +223 percent increase across the board, with the majority of this growth in New York (+246%) and San Francisco (+200%).

Second in the running for job growth is Japan (+214%) – where blockchain technology represents almost a third of all fintech companies in the country as cryptocurrencies transactions continue to grow (+51%).

Mr Fowlston comments: “Technology professionals is one of the most mobile talent communities in the world, and they naturally draw towards hubs or hives of activity where their skillset will continue to be in-demand and paid well.

“Now that travel and entry restrictions around the globe are fast disappearing it won’t be surprising to see a significant migration of talent toward the 8 fintech hubs.”

With San Francisco (40%), New York (33%), and Singapore (33%) all hiring en-masse for developers, it is clear to see which countries are heading into greater levels of disruptive innovation where we will see the emergence of fintech-as-a-service, hybrid cloud platforms, embedded finance, as well as a hyper-focus on customer experience.

Mr Fowlston adds: “The increasing digitalisation of all sectors has meant that software development is in demand across almost any industry. With the technology behind fintech advancing at astronomical levels, the high level of specialism needed from developers is certainly being reflected in inflated salaries.”

 

How can retention rates be improved within fintech?

According to Robert Walters analysts, fintech firms should try to aim to keep employees for at least 18 months – 2 years, if they are to get maximum potential all whilst keeping a channel open for fresh people and ideas.

Toby comments: “Excessive turnover drives up costs and diverts time and attention from the goals of a fast-growing start-up. For fintech’s that are more established, high turnover of staff  can lead to a loss of institutional knowledge and hinder efforts to foster a workplace culture.

“Fortunately, most of the drivers behind employee turnover are preventable and fixable. Steps to reduce turnover include rethinking recruiting strategies, enhancing career advancement opportunities and providing more training and development offerings.”

 

 

 

 

Amelia Brand
Amelia Brand

Amelia Brand is the Editor for HRreview, and host of the HR in Review podcast series. With a Master’s degree in Legal and Political Theory, her particular interests within HR include employment law, DE&I, and wellbeing within the workplace. Prior to working with HRreview, Amelia was Sub-Editor of a magazine, and Editor of the Environmental Justice Project at University College London, writing and overseeing articles into UCL’s weekly newsletter. Her previous academic work has focused on philosophy, politics and law, with a special focus on how artificial intelligence will feature in the future.