Regional banks are rebuilding risk and treasury teams

Regional banks have prioritised second-line rebuilding, with liquidity risk, interest-rate risk and regulatory reporting the most active categories.

Candidates who have run stress-testing or resolution planning at a larger institution command a clear premium, and several banks have opened satellite offices to reach them.

Remote and hybrid flexibility is being used deliberately to compete with money-centre employers.

In finance and professional services, the binding constraint is rarely candidate interest — it is process speed and clarity on progression. Regulated employers who can describe scope, reporting line and the first twelve months precisely tend to win against better-paying competitors who cannot. Where the shortage is structural, funding qualification internally beats waiting for a fully finished candidate.

Across the US, the pattern is regional rather than national. Aggregate figures hide markets that are still extremely tight, so we benchmark by metro and sector rather than by country-level averages.

If you are hiring in finance right now, the practical takeaway is to shorten your process and be explicit about what is genuinely non-negotiable. Fewer, better matched candidates almost always beat a longer list — and in a market moving this quickly, speed of decision is itself a competitive advantage.