Big cuts in banks' appetite for interns

For a while it seemed like banks' appetite for summer interns might hold up - they are, after all, a cheap source of labour and there's no commitment to take them on once the internship's over.

Now, however, early reports suggest intern numbers in 2009 might be down substantially on 2008. A recruiter at one US investment bank (turned bank holding company) says numbers are likely to be down 30% this year. Another puts the reduction closer to 50%.

The main problem is the uncertain outlook for 2010, as a result of which banks don't want to bring substantially in more interns than they can make offers to.

"It looks bad for future generations of interns if we offer hardly any places," says one graduate recruiter. "Most banks like to offer places to around 75% of interns, and that means they're being very careful not to hire a lot more interns than the number of places they're likely to have in 2010."

Figures from the Associate of Graduate Recruiters (AGR) also paint a rather grim picture for full-time graduate positions within enter financial services.

Investment banking or fund management vacancies are predicted to fall by 28% this year, the biggest fall of any industry, which means 417 fewer graduate vacancies, according to AGR calculations.