As government advisor Takatoshi Ito urges Japan to create its own sovereign wealth with about $33bn in assets, it appears Japan could be about to jump on the SWF bandwagon (Bloomberg). And that may lead to new finance sector jobs across the back, middle and front office.

Mark Pink at recruiter TopMoneyJobs says if created the new sovereign fund is likely to hire across "risk management, due diligence and compliance, as local regulations demand a higher number of support staff compared to Hong Kong or Singapore”.

Talent from large hedge funds and asset management firms would also be in demand, predicts Pink. Opportunities within the SWF would be largely for Japanese nationals, with upper-level positions requiring bilingual candidates, he adds.

“With the whole nature of a sovereign wealth fund, they won’t want to start with anything but Japanese nationals,” says Warwick Pearmund, of executive search firm Boyd & Moore.

How many jobs might the fund create? That probably depends on how it functions. If it is used to prop up the Japanese market or in a similar fashion to the pension fund, Pearmund suggests there will be “little or no effect on hiring”.

But if Japan uses the SWF to internationalise, Pearmund reckons the knock-on effect on financial service jobs could be great. “If they use this to open up the banking system, they could make Japan the financial hub of Asia,” he says.