Financial services vacancies at post-recession high

Jo Faragher

The number of vacancies in the financial sector is at its highest since 2009, according to Procorre, the professional services consultancy.

The level of roles has gone up by 23% in the last year alone, rising from 26,000 to 32,000. And in the quarter to the end of April this year, an extra 3,000 jobs have emerged, boosting the number of vacancies by 9%.

Procorre attributes the healthy rise in vacancies to better conditions at large retail banks and the fact that many of the bad debts taken on during the recession have now been written off. Improved consumer confidence, for example in terms of mortgage applications, has also helped, with many high-street banks increasing teams to deal with customer demand.

Lisa Mangan, Relationship Manager at Procorre said: “There is a sense of renewed optimism within the financial services sector as firms anticipate a return to improved profitability. Financial services companies are now turning towards growth strategies rather than looking for turnaround specialists to implement cost cutting programmes as deals and investment return to the City.”

Procorre suggests another key driver behind the surge in vacancies is wide ranging regulatory reforms.

Mangan added: “In the wake of the recession, regulatory reforms and compliance have become key areas of focus for financial services firms. Businesses are now dedicating even bigger resources to their regulatory and compliance teams to deal with the flood of reforms taking place.”

As a result, demand for contractors specializing in compliance issues will continue to be high as banks seek to limit their exposure to risk.