FiSAB report aims to quell financial job cuts

What a difference a year makes. When the Financial Services Advisory Board (FiSAB) published its 2008 report, the talk was of the resilience of the sector and how it continues to grow in Scotland despite the slumping global picture.

Twelve months on, humbled by the happenings at HBOS and RBS, and the government is altogether more bearish. However, developing skills and retaining as many jobs as possible remains at the forefront of the strategy going forward.

Key to this is the establishment of the Finance Sector Jobs Taskforce, which aims to match staff who have lost jobs to other firms that are recruiting. But with both HBOS and RBS believed to be planning more redundancies, it could be an uneven flow.

Job losses in financial services in Scotland are estimated at 3,000 so far, and FiSAB wants those companies considering further cuts to report to the taskforce.

"To build on our efforts to position Scotland's economy for a strong recovery, the financial services industry must continue to attract a workforce of the highest calibre and provide a confident and capable customer base for financial services products," said finance secretary John Swinney.

In spite of the losses in the banking sector, FiSAB was keen to accentuate the positives, pointing to continued growth within insurance and fund management and an increase in graduates entering the sector.

Here, as this lovely chart shows, is the plan for developing people within Scotland's financial services industry going forward: