IT recruitment surging in investment banks

After a long period of famine, IT staff can get ready to feast again. Recruitment firms are reporting booming demand for technologists to work in investment banks, and pay for contract staff, which has been static for several years, is on the up.

Mark Dickson, manager of IT hiring for investment banks at Robert Walters, said: "All the top banks are recruiting in technology right now. They are looking for big numbers: 30 people for one project; 40 people for another."

Lyndy Adlam, managing director at Adlam Consulting, an IT recruitment specialist, said banks' need for technology staff had come as surprise: "Twelve months ago there were hiring freezes. Now a lot of banks have multiple jobs out and we're very busy."

Full-time staff are not the only beneficiaries. Gary Chatfield, financial services recruitment manager at MSB International, which places IT staff in banks on short-term contracts, said banks are looking for 30% more contract staff than at this time last year:

"After 2000, a lot of banks stopped spending on non-critical IT projects. They are having to compensate for that now."

A need to upgrade trading systems is one of the drivers behind the expansion, recruitment firms say. Adlam said many of the vacancies are for senior IT staff with banking experience: 'A lot of the new jobs are on the trading floor. At least one of our clients is updating their trading systems.'

IT staff are also needed to work on risk systems related to the impending Basel II capital regulations, as well as IT fixed income derivative products.

Programmers with knowledge of C# (used with the framework .NET) are particularly sought after. But banks also need people with knowledge of more established programming languages such as C and Java.

Barclays Capital is among the banks that have taken on more IT staff. In May, the UK bank hired Mikhail Brovman, a managing director at Deutsche Bank, as head of UK and Europe fixed income technology to help develop its electronic trading platform.

Despite rising demand, Adlam said salaries for full time staff have so far remained fairly static, with staff with three years' banking experience and .NET knowledge commanding salaries up to 85,000.

However, Dickson said IT staff with derivatives experience are already benefiting financially in the current climate: 'A derivatives guy with five years' experience could now earn a salary of up to 95,000. That's 15% to 25% higher than last year.'

Pay for contract staff is rising fast. Chatfield said contract staff with knowledge of relevant programming languages can earn up to 600 a day. This compares to a maximum of 350 a day last year.

Higher contract rates are spreading across the sector. Chatfield said: 'People working on existing contracts with banks are getting calls from agencies offering them considerably more money.

"When their contracts come up for renewal they are asking banks to match the higher figures and are usually getting what they want.'