Consultants offer edge in finance sector rivalry

In the ultra-competitive financial sector, companies are always looking for ways to improve and to outperform rivals. As professionals with timely industry information and specialised knowledge, consultants obviously add value to a business.

Rita Xiao Wenhui (right), a consultant from Stirling Finance, expects the market demand for consultants to continue to rise as specific expertise becomes more and more important in the financial area. After working for the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, she decided to delve deeper into the area of finance, which is her main interest.

'As a consultant, my main duty is to provide clients with industry news by producing monthly newsletters. To provide the best information, I follow industry news very closely. Every morning I go through the finance sections of various papers to keep myself up to date,' Xiao says.

A good consultant needs to be skilled at research and ready to go networking in order to acquire information from other industry professionals. Apart from daily research work in the office, Xiao also needs to attend events and conferences for new information, and meet clients and industry players.

Xiao's regular working hours are from 9am to 7pm but sometimes she needs to work overtime, especially when there are urgent projects in hand.

'Consultants are usually very independent, so we tend to be flexible regarding time management, as long as we can meet the deadlines,' she says.