BNP Paribas to recruit 80 in Glasgow

Anyone who wondered if French bank BNP Paribas had stocked its larder in Glasgow after a bumper hiring spree in 2007, fear not - it's hiring 80 people for its fund administration function in Scotland's biggest city.

No, you didn't read it wrong - it was hire rather than fire - and the 80 new roles within the bank's investment operations division will be created over a period of five years, to take the total number employed in Scotland to 370.

As with most things in the financial world these days, the move comes with government assistance, and is the second tranche of a plan drawn up after BNP Paribas was awarded 3.7m in 2007 through the Regional Selective Assistance scheme.

The new positions will be across all levels - from the humble administrator through to senior management.

Margaret Lees, head of BNP Paribas' Scottish operations, said that they had (not surprisingly) already seen a good level of interest in the vacant positions and that the calibre of applicants was high.

Last year, BNP Paribas piloted a new graduate recruitment scheme in Scotland called the Accelerated Growth Programme, which took on 15 new recruits in Glasgow and Dundee.

2008 was a comparatively slow year for Glasgow's International Financial Services District, with HSBC the latest bank to open an office in the city.