Morgan Hunt and Antal make Moscow hires, say demand for bankers grows

Rupert Fordham, the CEO, said energy companies in particular were hiring employees with financial services experience in that sector. "We have done a lot of work for local brokers, but increasingly industrial companies are interested in Western financial skills," he said.

Fordham said employees were "getting good money" to jump both industry and location, with a number moving to Moscow from banks in London.

Gregory Okun, former partner and Russian country manager for recruitment firm Antal International, is joining Morgan Hunt as a director. Marina Stepanova and Anna Polyakova also join from Antal. All three have a track record in the energy, fast-moving consumer goods, pharmaceutical and automotive sectors.

Antal, which is restructuring its operations internationally to deal with weak recruitment markets,

has re-hired Tremayne Elsen, who was originally responsible for setting up its Moscow operation, as Russian country manager. It has also sent Luc Jones and Colin MacKay from the UK to Moscow, along with other staff who have yet to take up their posts.

Richard Gaulier, a former Ukraine country manager at Antal, is also moving to Moscow with the firm.

Antal's chairman and CEO, Tony Goodwin, said: "Russia is a very buoyant business. In the glory days of 1997 we had 82 people in Moscow. We don't want to sound over-exuberant, but in a spirit of 'cautious optimism' we would like to go back to the billings of those days."

Goodwin said the main offices affected by the firm's restructuring were in Paris and the UK.