Finance Jobs – Mixed Fortunes for City Jobs

Despite the headline grabbing slashing of jobs in the City, smaller, specialist firms in the City are able to pick and choose recruits as big investment banks lay off thousands across Europe.

Just over 2,700 new finance-related jobs were created in London in October, according to head-hunters Astbury Marsden, 10 percent up on the previous month’s 2,490 vacancies.

Smaller investment banks and brokerages have this year been making the most of bigger peers’ woes, allowing them to cherry pick staff frustrated by new pay rules and uncertainty over strategy.

The City has been hit with a wave of cost cutting as investment banks grapple with a shortage of deals and tougher capital rules introduced since the financial crisis that have eroded profit margins.

Double-digit growth in new jobs is positive news and some banks are posting quarterly results that beat analyst forecasts, but City staff are still cautious about what the future holds.

The job market is still very difficult and City jobs in October were still down 14 percent from a year ago, when many firms were already cutting.

Switzerland’s UBS is to cut another 10,000 jobs, with many of those to fall in London, while others such as Deutsche Bank have been reducing numbers as well.