MiFID-related hiring gathers pace

James Baker, senior consultant at Huxley Associates senior banking team says the firm has noticed a serious increase in MiFID related hiring. "Every bank this year, and especially in the last four or five months, have sought, typically, project managers and BAs (business analysts)," he says.

By comparison, Baker says most development hiring related to MiFID has taken place in software consultancies, which are likely to be the big winners from the new legislation.

An essential element of the EU's single market in financial services, MiFD will replace the Investment Services Directive (ISD) - in place since 1993 - and aims to ensure transactions between EU member states, as well as Norway, Switzerland and Liechtenstein, are on the same terms and conditions as business transacted at home. It embraces wholesale and retail trading in securities, including shares, bonds and derivatives.

It will affect investment banks, stockbrokers and asset managers. "MiFID is fundamentally about IT. It basically changes the way businesses have to record things...It is a big, regulatory-driven change," said Baker.

Lisa Jobson of the Harvey Nash Group says they too "are seeing job specifications coming through with MiFID requirements."

But Baker says hiring people with MiFID knowledge is not always easy.

"There is a massive shortage of people who have a working knowledge of MiFID," said Baker, adding that consultants, project manager and business analysts with MiFID understanding can expect to receive a "significant premium of maybe 20 percent".