Over three-quarters – 78.6 per cent – of financial services companies that have at least one vacancy had hard-to-fill positions, with two-thirds of them saying that the main cause was a lack of work experience required to meet organisational demands.

The other reasons were lack of skills (51 per cent) and that applicants generally did not have the right attitude, motivation or personality (45 per cent).

The figures came from a survey commissioned by the Malta Financial Services Authority’s Education Consultative Council, chaired by former banker John Consiglio. It covered issues relating to recruitment challenges, pertaining to skill deficiencies, skill gaps within the existing workforce and to the incidence of off-the-job training.

The majority of vacancies – 39.3 per cent – were in banks, 24.7 per cent in investment services companies, 16.9 per cent in insurance companies, 7.9 per cent in trusts and trust management companies, 6.7 per cent in insurance intermediaries and 4.5 per cent in financial institutions.

Almost a quarter of companies (22.9 per cent) have skill gaps in their current workforce with the highest incidence in insurance companies. The skills which most needed improving were compliance skills, fund administration skills and general regulatory requirements.

While 42.4 per cent resorted to a more extensive range of recruitment channels, a third solved the issue by recruiting from overseas.

A number of companies also turned to training. The majority of respondents either funded or organised off-the-job training for their employees over the last 12 months.

The results indicate that the majority of off-the-job training goes to employees within managerial and senior managerial positions and within professional positions.

The council made a number of recommendations, the most specific being the provision of further training for fund/client administrators, accountants and positions related to compliance – although it noted that further studies may be required to verify this. It also highlighted the importance of work placements, internships and apprenticeships within the financial service industry.

“With exposure to work in the financial service industry during student years, such candidates become equipped to make better career decisions and thus to perform better later in their work life.

“... A common recruitment strategy adopted by organisations with hard-to-fill vacancies is to recruit people outside of the Maltese jurisdiction. International internships may play a crucial role to mould experts in specific fields of the financial industry, especially in the case of highly specialised work and especially for the longer-term internship programmes.”

The council also saw a larger role for industry professionals as mentors.

“Professionals who are experts in the field of financial services have a wealth of knowledge on the practical, operational side of the industry – which takes a completely different stance from the academic point of view. In such a technical-oriented industry the practical elements of education will provide an insider’s guide to those who will later be launched into the working environment, thus providing the best of both worlds.

“In its remit of a forum that promotes financial services as an attractive career option, the ECC can also help in the promotion of the idea among the professional community to impart expert knowledge. This might also be an initiative that can be particularly interesting for those experts who are moving out of the industry on early retirement schemes or some other process,” it said.