SEATTLE — Financial institutions are looking beyond so-called tech cities in the hunt for cloud engineers amid a surging demand for top talent.

The market for cloud engineers is so hot, in fact, that $532 billion Truist Bank is scouting for talent in lesser-known areas of the U.S., Bryce Elliott, chief information officer for wholesale and enterprise payments at Truist, said during the panel discussion “In the Air: How to Develop for the Cloud in Order to Enable Cloud Technology Strategy” at Bank Automation Summit Fall 2022 in Seattle.

“We’re looking at smaller cities in the country,” Elliott said. “So not just in what we call our footprint cities — so not Charlotte, Atlanta, things that Truist is known for — we’re looking at some cities in Louisiana and some others.”

“Cloud is a very hard skillset in talent for us right now,” he added.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, BMO opened several hubs around the country, which allowed the bank to expand its talent pool, Victor Tung, U.S. chief technology and operations officer and chief information and operations officer for BMO Capital Markets, said during the panel.

“COVID accelerated the ability for people to collaborate digitally and come together,” Tung said. “We can set up all these hubs and we can hire all through the U.S. right now.”