Key takeaways

• Business confidence has bounced back, but financial services hiring is still cautious.
• The real pick-up is likely after the 7 November election, not before it.
• Employers want commercial ability, technology fluency and regulatory depth.
• Banks are trimming back-office roles while protecting customer-facing teams.
• Only 3 percent of professionals we surveyed have a structured career plan, and that is a retention gap employers can fix.

Last updated: September 2026

Financial services hiring in New Zealand is recovering more slowly than business confidence, and the election adds another pause. Most conversations we’ve had with clients and candidates this year start the same way. Is it getting better, or does it just feel like it should be?

Honest answer: confidence is coming back faster than hiring is. That gap is where the opportunity sits if you work in banking, insurance or financial services.

Where does the NZ jobs market stand right now?

It’s worth starting with the tough bit, because unemployment across the country is at 5.6 percent, its highest in about a decade. Auckland is doing worse than most, while Canterbury and Otago are holding up much better. Pay rises have been small, and prices are climbing faster than wages. So a lot of people feel worse off than they did a year ago.

Layered on top of that, interest rates haven’t done much to help either. Petrol and diesel prices jumped because of the conflict in the Middle East, which pushed up the cost of almost everything. The Reserve Bank responded by lifting its interest rate twice this year, most recently in September. That tends to flow through to what businesses and households pay to borrow, and it is one reason employers are still cautious about adding people.

Given that those figures cover every industry rather than just ours, our corner of the market looks a little different. Financial and insurance services was one of the few areas adding jobs earlier this year. I’d treat that with some care. Official counts can be skewed by one-off payments, and by July the sector had slipped back to roughly where it was a year ago. It’s steadier than the wider market, but not booming.

What are we seeing on our desks?

Away from the official numbers, our own view of the market is uneven but far from grim.

Insurance broking is a good place to start, since firms are still keen to engage solid brokers with established books. The conversation has shifted from what a firm can do for the broker to what the broker can do for the firm. Soft rates, plus added pressure from new London market players, have dented revenue at some firms even where they’ve kept their clients. That has cooled growth hiring.

That said, it isn’t all doom and gloom, because more organisations are looking hard at succession planning, and they are open to good people who can keep existing books serviced without a gap. In banking, we’ve just finished a large project helping a major bank build up its home lending teams, as part of a push to look after customers better.

What are the green shoots for financial services hiring?

If there’s one thing pulling in the right direction, it’s how businesses are feeling. At the end of last year, confidence was the strongest it had been in around thirty years. Then the fuel price shock hit and it dropped away almost overnight, with a real low point in April. Since then it has bounced back, and by July most businesses were feeling far more positive again.

Looking further out, the Reserve Bank expects the economy to pick up through the rest of this year. Exporters are in good shape, and businesses are starting to invest again. That is usually the first sign that companies are ready to grow.

Because of the way the sector tends to move, banks and insurers usually feel this with a delay rather than straight away. Lending picks up first, then commercial insurance work, then advice work. Hiring follows. So we’d expect the real movement in the months after the election, not before it.

How will the election affect financial services hiring?

With New Zealand voting on Saturday 7 November, the timing itself is worth thinking about. Elections make decision-makers pause, and if coalition talks drag on, they can run close to Christmas. Then everyone disappears for summer, and plans slide into February.

From an employer’s point of view, a role approved now can be filled now. The strongest people also won’t still be on the market in the new year. For candidates, a quiet conversation before the election is worth having, even if you don’t move until early 2027.

A few dates are worth having in the diary:

• 28 October: the Reserve Bank’s next interest rate decision
• 4 November: the next jobs figures, three days before the vote
• 9 December: the Reserve Bank’s next full update

What does our survey say about people and pay?

Every year we run a survey of professionals across banking, financial services, insurance, risk and compliance to put together our Salary & Benefits Guide, and this year’s results show where employers are winning and where they’re exposed.

Before getting into the findings, it’s worth flagging that the sample skews experienced. Most respondents have more than ten years in the industry, and most earn above $120,000. So this is the senior end of the market speaking, which is the end employers compete hardest for.

Are financial services professionals changing jobs?

The short answer is yes, and mostly within the sector rather than overseas. About one in five respondents changed jobs in the past year, and another third plan to move in the next twelve months. When colleagues do leave, more than half go to another bank, insurer or financial services firm. Only around 5 percent head overseas, and of the small number looking abroad, half have Australia in mind. In other words, talent isn’t draining away. It’s being competed for at home.

How uneven is pay?

Sitting behind most of those decisions is pay, and it’s uneven across the market. Just over half of respondents named salary and benefits as the most important factor in a move. That is well ahead of work-life balance and progression.

At the same time, a growing number of people are missing out entirely, with the share who received no pay rise at all jumping from 13 percent to 21 percent. A small group, around one in nine, got $20,000 or more. Salary satisfaction is split almost exactly down the middle. The pattern is clear: employers are paying up for experienced specialists and holding back everywhere else.

What keeps people in their jobs?

Of everything on offer, flexibility is by far the standout benefit. Around 81 percent of respondents get some form of flexible working, and it is also the benefit they value most. Employee assistance programmes (61 percent), health insurance (49 percent) and bonus schemes (44 percent) come next.

Look a little further down the list, though, and the gaps become telling. Only 31 percent get KiwiSaver or super above the standard rate, even though it ranks among the most valued benefits. Just 3 percent have a structured career progression plan. That last number is the one we’d want employers to look at. Nearly every firm says it wants to keep good people, but very few can show them where they’re heading.

Which skills are financial services employers looking for?

Four themes keep coming up.

Commercial ability, and books that travel

Of all the themes we see, this is the clearest one for us. In broking and wealth advice especially, firms are targeting people who bring portable client books and can show what they add to the bottom line. In mortgage broking, the appetite is for advisers who go beyond transactions and build bespoke cashflow planning for clients. When demand is patchy, people who can win and grow relationships are easier to justify.

AI and technology fluency, especially in broking

When it comes to AI, nobody expects a broker to build models. They’re expected to use the tools well. The practical gains are mostly in admin, such as file notes, renewals and keeping records consistent for the regulator now that the conduct regime is fully in force. The tools only pay off once the client data underneath them is in order, so the technology turns out to be the easy part.

Among the employers doing this well, the best are positioning AI as an enabler, not a threat, and giving people clear role definitions so the team trusts the change. If technology handles the compliance paperwork, brokers can spend their time on complex risk placement and client relationships.

It’s worth adding, though, that there’s a flip side to all this. Clients are testing these tools themselves, and a growing number now use AI to compare policies and work out what offers value before they ever speak to a broker. A broker who can explain why a policy suits a client, and what the comparison tool missed, is worth more than one who simply produces the comparison. Employers will also want to hear how you use AI responsibly, since plenty of staff in regulated businesses use tools their employer hasn’t approved.

Regulatory and risk depth

Much of the heavy lifting on compliance is already behind us, since the big projects of recent years are now business as usual. Demand has shifted to people who can provide ongoing strategic oversight, and the next wave is already forming.

Looking ahead to the Contracts of Insurance Act, insurers will need regulatory change managers, insurance lawyers and compliance specialists to get ready for it. They have to rewrite policy wordings and rework processes well before it starts. Financial crime remains a steady source of demand as anti-money laundering rules continue to change. There is also real growth in non-financial risk, meaning cyber, operational resilience and third-party vendor management.

Bringing people through

A real problem has opened up in the insurance broking pipeline over the past few years. Offshoring of back-office work has thinned out the in-house roles that used to train future technical specialists. Junior brokers are left waiting for exposure to complex commercial portfolios.

Among the firms handling this well, the approach is to pair mid-tier brokers with retiring senior ones, so knowledge transfers safely. Life and health insurance has its own version of the problem, with an ageing adviser base and tight regulation. Wealth firms face a similar retention gap where progression paths are unclear. Employers who invest in this now will be well placed when hiring lifts.

Are banks moving from the back office to the frontline?

For the most part, the answer is yes, and our data backs it up. Purely operational roles in banking are declining as automation and offshoring take over standard back-office work. Demand has pivoted to people who pair digital fluency with human-led advice. That means relationship and commercial managers who can use data to tailor the customer experience, plus specialists in proactive compliance and risk modelling.

You don’t have to look far to see this pattern playing out publicly at the big banks. One of the majors has been cutting thousands of roles across its wider group while saying branches and call centres would largely be spared. There has been restructuring in technology teams closer to home too, with some work moving offshore.

Taken together, the pattern is fewer layers, less duplication and more automation behind the scenes, with customer-facing roles protected. Whether savings are always reinvested at the front is less clear across the market. However, we’re seeing it first-hand in places, and building up home lending teams is exactly that kind of investment.

Alongside the restructuring, technology is also being used to support the people at the front. At least one major bank is rolling out an AI-assisted contact centre system that puts a customer’s details and product information in front of the person taking the call.

Adding another layer to the shift, open banking is now live across the major banks, letting customers share their data with approved providers. That opens up new product, partnership and data roles.

What does this mean for employers and candidates?

If you’re on the hiring side, it’s worth expecting good people to be out there but choosier, and expecting a well-run process to win. Flexibility is table stakes. The differences will come from visible progression, fair and open pay conversations, and a few benefits people genuinely value.

If you’re the one looking, the best position is to be visible before the rush. Keep your skills current, be ready to talk about how you use technology, and make your commercial results easy to explain.

For anyone who wants the detail behind all of this, our full 2026/27 Salary & Benefits Guide has the pay bands and survey results. We’ll keep watching the jobs market through the election and into the new year.

Whichever part of the market you sit in, whether that’s actuarial, financial services, insurance or risk and compliance, we’d be glad to talk about your team or your next step. And if you know someone who’d suit a role, our refer a friend programme comes with a $600 voucher (T&Cs apply). Get in touch with Tyler Wren any time.

Frequently asked questions about financial services hiring in NZ

1. Is financial services hiring improving in NZ?

Slowly. Business confidence has recovered since April, but employers are still cautious about adding people. Financial services has held up better than the wider market, and we expect the clearest pick-up in the months after the 7 November election.

2. How will the 2026 election affect financial services hiring?

Elections make decision-makers pause, and coalition talks can run close to Christmas. Then the summer break pushes plans into February. Roles approved now can be filled now, so hiring before the election can give employers a head start on strong candidates.

3. What skills are banks and insurers hiring for in NZ?

Four areas stand out: commercial ability, including portable client books; technology and AI fluency; regulatory and risk depth, especially financial crime and non-financial risk; and the ability to develop junior staff. Banks also want people who pair digital skills with human-led advice.

4. Will AI replace insurance brokers in NZ?

We don’t see that happening. AI is taking over admin work such as file notes, renewals and compliance records. Clients still value a broker who can explain why a policy suits them. Brokers who use AI well and advise well are the ones employers want.

5. Are banks cutting back-office jobs in NZ?

Purely operational roles are declining as automation and offshoring take over standard processes. At the same time, banks are competing for relationship managers, commercial specialists, compliance and risk professionals, and frontline capacity such as home lending teams.

6. Why are financial services professionals changing jobs?

Pay is the main reason. In our survey, just over half named salary and benefits as their top factor, ahead of work-life balance and career progression. More than one in five had no pay rise in the past year, and half are unhappy with their current salary.

7. What is the best time to hire or look for a financial services job around the election?

Before the election, while decision-makers still have hiring approved and the strongest people are still available. Conversations can start now even if a move happens in early 2027. Waiting until after the summer break risks a crowded market.

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