Don't forget - there's still a skills-shortage...

As news seeps out about recruitment freezes and redundancies in Irish financial services, it's easy to forget that there's still a skills shortage in the industry. And the Federation of International Banks in Ireland (FIBI) is keen to remind the government to take action.

The government's proposals for a Centre for Financial Services Skills, which aims to equip top level graduates with the skill-sets to continue to drive Ireland's financial services sector forward, seems largely to have been put on ice.

However, the FIBI insists that internationally-traded financial services is still in expansion mode, and that staff are still thin on the ground.

Tony Golden, managing director of City in Ireland and FIBI chairman, said that recent research conducted by the group found that 57% of financial services firms expect business to increase in 2008.

"They see the supply of people with the appropriate high level of skills as the single greatest challenge going forward," he said.

One recruiter, who wanted to remain anonymous, says: "Quite frankly there are fewer positions out there, but then barely anyone is switching jobs, so they remain as hard to fill as ever."

And Ireland's biggest success story - the funds industry - is still experiencing a skills shortage, says Darren McCabe, director at Cotter Personnel: "Whether that's in the supervisor, team leader, manager, fund accounting or generic fund administration it's extremely difficult to find people. A lot of firms are still attempting to back-fill roles from some time ago."