Khazanah Is In The Market

…for an economist. Check out the advert here.

I’m going to take this opportunity to clarify my comments regarding the job openings at Public Bank and Public Investment Bank that I posted on before. What you’re seeing here is the difference in emphasis between the “sell” side and the “buy” side in the financial sector.

Khazanah is very obviously “buy” side – they are their own client, they do research to support their own trade and corporate activity, and they don’t publish as a marketing tool. Hence Khazanah is looking for someone who can do the grunt work of economics, both theoretical and applied, which is why they’re asking for postgraduates in economics (PhDs preferred, publication history a plus) experienced with econometric software.

PBB and PIBB on the other hand epitomise the “sell” side – the function of research is partly to support their own business and trades, but just as equally it’s done to market and sell their products and services. Hence, in this conception, an MBA is sufficient – knowledge of marketing, sales, and corporate finance are just as important, if not more so, as the economics knowledge.

Incidentally, this is one reason why you should always read research reports coming from “sell” side institutions with a grain of salt – the quality is going to be suspect, and you can’t discount the presence of bias. Not deliberately mind you, but the job spec and incentive system makes these factors perhaps unavoidable.

And in case you’re wondering, I work on the “buy” side.