According to financial services recruitment firm, Astbury Marsden, around 3,455 City job vacancies were created last month, representing a 9% rise on March.
One hot area of recruitment was within Fixed Income units, where turnover has been driven by liquidity provided by the European Central Bank and the Bank of England.
In addition, banks’ interest rate swaps desks look set to expand as speculation about the economic recovery continues and businesses consider whether to fix their borrowing rates at today’s low levels.
Astbury Marsden’s chief operating officer, Mark Cameron, comments: “The biggest investment banks have been net shedders of jobs for the last year – this is the first time since then that they have been doing any significant hiring.”
He adds: “But one swallow doesn’t make a spring – few are expecting a sudden return to banks outbidding each other for staff across the board.”
However, the “regulatory steamroller” continues to create jobs in its wake, and changes facing investment banks could act as a key component of demand in the City jobs market.
Mr Cameron explains: “Whilst Basel III and the Vickers Report mean quite profound changes in the way investment banks work there are also plenty of other regulatory initiatives ranging from the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act and the shift to centralised clearing for OTC derivatives.
“They all come with huge administrative burdens for compliance experts and IT teams to grapple with.”
Astbury Marsden estimates that there are now 1.8 qualified candidates for every available City job, down from 2.3 in March.
Source:
bankingtimes.co.uk
