Nasdaq to expand PH workforce by 30%

The Nasdaq logo is displayed at the Nasdaq Market site in Times Square in New York City, U.S., Dec 3, 2021. REUTERS/Jeenah Moon

MANILA  -US financial services group Nasdaq will expand its workforce in Manila by more than 30 percent over the next year, bolstering employment growth in a sector roiled by uncertainty.

Nasdaq, best known for operating stock exchanges in the United States, will add over 100 new jobs until 2024 and will open up various new roles focused on fields of data science and engineering, company executive said on Tuesday.

“Having the best employees is critical to us. Having a big presence in Manila is very important to us,” said Nasdaq president Nelson Griggs, who was in Manila for the company’s 10th anniversary celebrations on Tuesday.

The company currently has 300 employees in its Bonifacio Global City office or three times its size when it started a decade ago.

“The pandemic allowed all major companies to look at the productivity we’re getting out of employees. Our eyes got opened in terms of the talent here, the universities here and the quality of employees that we have,” Griggs said.

“We’re a growing company and we plan to be bigger,” he said. Yasir Fattah, vice president of advisory and head of location strategy for capital access platforms at Nasdaq, said they were hiring more financial analysts but also data engineers and data scientists.

Nasdaq will also beef up core services such as human resources for talent acquisition as well as finance and technology-related jobs.

“What I’ve seen here is a real diversification of talent in the local market,” Fattah said. “It’s a perfect talent pool for us to continue moving jobs here.”

Marie Christine Joy Comia-Lansangan, senior director and head of Manila advisory services and Philippines center head at Nasdaq, said they were also expanding their partnerships with schools and universities.

“We would really like to look into other universities other than the top universities. For engineering we also do have good engineering schools so we want to tap them as well,” she said.

The officials underscored Nasdaq’s growing business across several areas. One of its fastest growing divisions, for example, is the capital access platforms unit. Many of the new roles will focus on capital markets, private markets, indices as well as environment, social and corporate governance-related jobs, it noted. INQ