Managing directors are getting younger and younger in Singapore's finance sector

The average age of executives is just 45 years.

Gone are the days when age dictated rank in Singapore’s financial services firms. Now, managing directors and partners in the city-state are becoming younger and younger, showing the rapid career progress that can be made by talented and ambitious executives in Singapore compared to more mature markets.

Research by recruitment firm Astbury Marsden showed that the average age of MDs and Partners is just 45 years, compared to 51 in London.

It also found that the average age of those earning S$500,000 or more is also 45 years old compared with an equivalent average age of 50 in the UK. 37 is the average age at which Singapore financial services staff break through the six-figure salary bracket.

The youth of Singapore-based executives can be attributed to the robust growth of Singapore’s financial services sector over the last decade, the report said.

As there has been rapid expansion in the number of job opportunities available, firms have been quicker to promote younger staff to more senior positions as they are created.

“While practical experience is still key to career progression, this suggests that reaching the top is not merely a question of age. For those who have covered a lot of ground in their careers in a short space of time, their relative youth is not holding them back,” said Mark O’Reilly, Managing Director for Asia Pacific at Astbury Marsden.