SEPA sending banks into a spin

Legislation can be good news if you're an IT professional. Why? Recruiters say banks are bulking up their internal tech muscle to cope with the latest volley of regulations.

Investment banks are struggling with the biggest ball in the form the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID). But retail banks also have a Brussels fast bowl coming their way in the form of the Single European Payments Area (SEPA).

"MiFID is taking quite a lot of work and it's just ramping up now. The other thing is SEPA and that's a very large project with 2008 the first deadline and 2010 the second. The majority of companies working on that are really spending time looking at internal solutions and by 2010 will turn off old systems," says Rod Nelsestuen, senior analyst at financial consultancy TowerGroup.

Stephen Feline, a consultant at recruitment firm The Kaizen Partnership, says MiFID and SEPA are contributing to demand for internal tech talent.

"Two years ago the trend was to offload to external vendors as much as possible, but 2Q and 3Q lots of banks are bringing staff back in-house to get market leverage," he said.

SEPA is intended to allow European credit card customers to spend money on cards across Europe, without being charged any more for the privilege that when at home. Estimates suggest it will cost card companies and banks roughly € 8bn to implement. Recruiters say they're looking for IT staff across the board to put in place common platforms and requirements, linking legacy and new systems.