The Philippines’ economic fundamentals have helped build a resilient economy amid the slowing regional economies and has helped drive online hiring for Banking & Financial professionals in the country, while other markets in Southeast Asia are struggling to recover.

This is according to the latest Monster Employment Index (MEI) data for October 2015, where the Banking, Financial Services and Insurance sector (BFSI) sector in the Philippines registered a 25% year-over-year growth – the highest of the three markets surveyed by the Index. This is also a 15% jump from the September year-over-year data.

The MEI is a monthly gauge of online job hiring activity, which records the industries and occupations that show the highest and lowest growth in recruitment activity in Singapore, Malaysia and Philippines.

For the third consecutive month, the Philippines remained the only one of the three markets to experience positive year-over-year growth in online hiring in this sector. Malaysia registered the steepest decline at -4%, despite the marginal improvement from last month’s -5% year-over-year decline.

In Singapore, the Index registered a slight dip at -2% year-over-year, down from September’s -1%. The short-term growth in the last three months between July and October saw a 2% increase.

Despite the mostly negative trend, the BFSI sector continues to emerge as one of the top growth industries in online hiring across all three markets.

E-recruitment trends for Finance and Accounts roles registered negative annual growth across all three markets in October, with the Philippines experiencing the steepest growth at -3% year-over-year. This is a slight improvement from September’s registered -7% growth.

Malaysia fared the worst, exhibiting a -11% year-over-year drop in demand for Finance and Accounts professionals. In Singapore, the figure remained the same as September, at -8% year-over-year.

“Recovery in Singapore and Malaysia remains sluggish as leaders in both markets continue to find the best solution around the slow economic growth, and as many financial institutions announce layoffs and retrenchments. With China looking to strengthen ties with Singapore and Malaysia, the hiring situation could start to see improvement in the coming months,” said Sanjay Modi, Managing Director, Monster.com (India, Middle East, Southeast Asia, Hong Kong). “The Philippines has held up well during the overall economic slowdown in the region, and this is largely backed by the continued strong foreign investments coming through, and growing remittances within the economy, setting the sector up for new hires.”