Scottish firms firing, but some are hiring

A third of financial services firms in Scotland intend to make cuts of 5% or more this year, with investment operations players the most likely to be reducing headcount. However, recruitment is not completely dead in the water.

The latest Scottish Financial Services review by recruiters Joslin Rowe paints a predictably grim picture for the industry north of the border, with just 22% of firms like to increase headcount by up to 10% this year. This compares with 55% in of those surveyed in 2007, and a record 82% in 2006.

Surprisingly, respondents in the investment operations space, which has enjoyed rapid growth in the last few years and was recently buoyed by news that BNP Paribas is expanding, said they were most likely to make redundancies.

By comparison private wealth managers and fund managers were the most optimistic about their prospects for the coming year.

Scotland's recruiters are undaunted by the results. Margaret Dyer, director of Joslin Rowe Scotland says there are still skills shortages for some roles: "It's a vicious circle. Job-seekers think there are no jobs, so don't take a look at the market, in turn firms are who are recruiting for niche skills can't recruit."

These "niche" skills are mainly at the senior end, with companies struggle to find management level hires in everything from investment operations, corporate banking, fund management and risk management.

Paul Lewis, managing director of industries, policy and research at Scottish Enterprise, says there are still some opportunities in asset servicing and fund management and that it's important for Scotland to capitalise on these opportunities.