Technology vendors are HIRING
Pity the poor trading floor technologist. With IT budgets on the decline, more capital market firms are turning to third-party products (taking work away from in-house staff). And vendors are still recruiting.
Adam Honore, senior analyst at Aite Group said at a recent roundtable discussion that banks "don't have the luxury of letting infrastructure wane" meaning investment in front office systems has to continue.
However, he says there's a move away from in-house builds: "The philosophy used to be, we have the best engineers, no one else can do it as well; now, we're seeing evaluations of third-party products."
Simon Masters, head of recruitment for electronic trading vendor Trayport, says the firm intends to increase headcount by 20% by the end of the year and that many of its competitors also have plans to build their teams.
"We're seeing increasing interest from people with investment banking IT experience," he says. "The problem is they still expect investment banking salaries, but will have to take a salary cut of 15-20%. There are also those who view working for a vendor as a stop-gap until the banks begin to recruit again."
