As economic conditions continue to stutter, online recruitment activities across Southeast Asia's Banking and Finance sectors are registering weak growth.

This is according to the latest Monster Employment Index (MEI), a monthly gauge of online job hiring activity by Monster.com, which records the industries and occupations that show the highest and lowest growth in recruitment activity in Singapore, Malaysia and Philippines.

Among the three markets surveyed, Singapore exhibited the weakest year-over-year growth in the BFSI sector, at -13% between August 2014 and August 2015. This is a further dip from July's -9%.

Both Malaysia and the Philippines witnessed positive year-over-year growth in the BFSI sector at 10% and 2% respectively, where the sector emerged as the top growth industry in Malaysia. Between July and August 2015, the Philippines registered the most notable growth in the SEA region, as annual growth improved from -8% to 2%.

E-recruitment trends for Finance and Accounts professionals show negative annual growth for all markets except Malaysia. Jobs in the Philippines have dropped -9% year-on-year, while roles in Singapore experienced the biggest decline at -13%.

“While we are experiencing an overall slowdown in hiring across the region within the BFSI sector, Malaysia and the Philippines are emerging ahead of markets such as Singapore, as international brands continue to explore their options in both countries. This is resulting in a rise in demand for professionals with niche skills, especially within governance and compliance," said Sanjay Modi, Managing Director, Monster.com (India, Middle East, Southeast Asia, Hong Kong).

"In Singapore, cost considerations are still playing a part in the overall downsizing of the industry. We do expect this to pick up again slowly in the coming year, however the short-term reality is stagnant headcounts and limited hiring activity in the sector."

The Monster Employment Index is a monthly gauge of online job posting activity, based on a real-time review of millions of employer job opportunities culled from a large representative selection of career websites and online job listings across Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines. The Index does not reflect the trend of any one advertiser or source, but is an aggregate measure of the change in job listings across the industry.