Does anyone here work for a Foreign Bank / Financial Company in Taiwan? How is the work environment, compensation, etc., versus back home or versus other Asian cities ( Singapore and Hong Kong) ? I assume that it is better to apply from your home country and try and secure some sort of Expat package?
Yep, better to apply from Home country, I was on a local package and hours weren’t great either.
Never worked for a bank but I’ve seen pay scale for foreign multinationals. Essentially it all depends on level. Entry level to manager you are looking at anywhere from 50k - 150k/month + bonus, Director around 300k/month + bonus, but there was only one Director in Taiwan. Heaps in HK/Sing.
For local hires they mostly hired Taiwanese kids coming back home after studying in the States or after working in McKinsey/BCG office in Taipei, for that one Director and the few senior managers it was either mid-career locals with significant international experience or an expat, usually transferring in from another APAC office.
Work environment was fine when I worked in the Taipei office just a little above entry level, but my job didn’t actually have much to do with the Taipei office or the Taiwan market and my boss was in London so YMMV.
Ultimately transferred to HK for a promotion.
I definitely wouldn’t be doing anything management related. It would more likely be related to anti-money laundering, financial crime, etc… I am just not sure how much of that there is in Taiwan for half decent pay (or at all for that matter). It seems to pay pretty well in Singapore and Hong Kong, but I wouldn’t need to be paid quite as well in that it is Taiwan where the cost of living is significantly lower.