Banks make senior hires from outside, overlook own staff

From 1999 to 2001 external board level appointments soared by 76%, while internal appointments fell 8%, the report says. Many of the external hires had international experience, while others brought in a specialist marketing or IT background.

In all 38% of board level appointments last year were from outside the firms concerned, said the report commissioned by the headhunting firm TMP Worldwide.

Firms looked for outside experience partly because markets have become more international, the survey found. This was particularly true in Germany and the UK, where 41% and 31% respectively of board level executives had worked in more than one country.

The survey looked at banking, insurance and personal finance companies in 8 countries.