PRs wanted

Recruitment of press officers and corporate communications professionals is buzzing as banks get a grip on reputation management.

"We've definitely noticed a dramatic increase in the number of public relations, investor relations and corporate communications professionals hired into investment banking," says Simon Basset, managing consultant at recruitment firm EMR City PR.

"Media relations and investor relations is now taken a lot more seriously than it was - we've handled twice as many head of corporate communication roles already this year than we did last year," he adds.

Basset says City PR professionals are commanding increasingly healthy salaries and bonuses. Sign-on bonuses are occasionally available too.