Recruitment News

Financial Services industry continues to grow

Recent data from PriceWaterhouseCoopers and the CBI has given further optimism for growth within the financial services jobs market.

Their June findings pointed to growth in the last quarter being at its fastest rate since September 2007, a continuation of a similar pattern for Q1 2010. Whilst the rate of growth has slowed and profitability (which has been steadily rising) is starting to plateau, this is a further sign that the sector is witnessing continued improvement in confidence and levels of activity, alongside upbeat predictions for the last 6 months of 2010.

One of the other themes to arise from the survey was that there are heightened signs that financial services companies are planning to expand headcount. For those struggling to find IFA jobs, paraplanner jobs and administration jobs at the present time, this would be a welcome boost.

As indicated in previous updates, the market for those seeking paraplanner jobs and administration jobs has been significantly better in 2010, although we remain some way off the peaks of previous years. With the increased burden of planning for the Retail Distribution Review, it is widely expected that paraplanners and administrators will see their market continue to expand, whilst with rising regulatory costs proving a huge concern we could well see an emphasis on compliance jobs in 2010 and 2011 as companies look to position their models ahead of the major changes the industry is going through.

IFA jobs are continuing to appear, although confidence needs to continue to improve over the course of 2010 for the depth of opportunities to be available. This is further heightened with some IFA firms having uncertainty about the repositioning of their business from a commission to fee based structure, with them possibly preferring to focus on recruitment into their paraplanner and administration divisions in the short-term.

Optimism is also evident from recent salary surveys, which suggest that many individuals have at least maintained their salary when moving from one job to another. However it is clear from anecdotal evidence that those individuals who have secured IFA jobs, paraplanner jobs and administration jobs in 2009/2010 from a weaker bargaining position i.e. having been made redundant or being out of work, have found that packages have been much lower than in previous years. This is particularly true of IFA jobs, where reticence about expansion has caused firms to look much more carefully at keeping fixed costs to a minimum, instead preferring to put in place attractive bonus schemes.

The CBI/PWC figures though do point to a more promising end to the year, hopefully giving the IFA jobs, paraplanner jobs and administration jobs markets a much needed boost.

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