Cutbacks on IT hiring

August's spike in trading volumes exposed capacity issues in banks' clearing and settlements systems. Does this mean they'll hire people to sort them out? No.

Robbie Hoare, banking technology consultant at Astbury Marsden, says: "What we are seeing here is very much a hiring slowdown, apart from some key positions. There are some high-priority IT positions, the business critical ones, that have escaped the cut.

"But the banks' profit capacity has taken a massive slowdown and they need their margins to be at an acceptable level, so a lot of recruitment has been canned."

Hoare adds: "Banks are tightening the belts, as they tend to mid- to late October, as people are submitting budgets and preparing for the new year. But this time, the credit crunch has also happened. It's still to be concluded over the next three to four weeks."

However, Informatiq, an IT recruitment firm that supplies the likes of IBM and Logical CMG with IT candidates, said business is still strong for them.

Managing director John Scott says: "There is business there and those markets are busy. The customers are not notably hiring for technologists, but still have broad requirements: from business technologists to [technical] sales people."

Moreover, business for software sales companies certainly looks good, if banking software vendor Financial Objects is anything to go by. It recently continued its hiring strategy by appointing a new head of banking, and says it is "undertaking increased investment in sales resource to build for 2008 and beyond."