We had over 2,000 responses to our bonus expectations survey from financial services professionals. Aside from how they expected their bonuses to change, we also asked them how insecure they felt about their jobs. The results were very, very varied.
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Overall, as expected, global job insecurity in the financial services sector was much lower than last year. There was also a relatively tighter spread than in previous years, but there were two clear outliers: professionals in APAC and the GCC said they felt more insecure than peers in Europe, the UK, and especially the USA.
“There is no such thing as job security,” said a Singapore-based risk professional working for JPMorgan, who also said that he would be looking for a new job outside of the country.
On the other hand, an operations associate based in Qatar said that she felt secure because of the “GCC laws and regulations that all companies are taking advantage of.” Despite that, she still wanted to look for a new job in 2026, in a “country where laws make you feel safe.”
The Americans, meanwhile, were confident, mainly due to the performance of the industry. “It is a profitable year,” said one hedge fund VP-equivalent, who felt secure in his job. “We’re growing faster than last year based upon revenue and clients asking to conduct business with us,” added a BofA sales & trading VP. Amusingly, both men noted that they wanted to change jobs in 2026.
Still, not everyone was confident. “Layoffs and rehiring have become a routine cycle in today’s corporate landscape,” said one JPMorgan operations VP, “eroding any sense of job security in the industry.” And although he acknowledged that “layoffs are part of the cycle,” he did also say that he was “content with the scope of [his] current role,” and would not be looking for a new job in 2026.
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