The risk recruitment myth

The theory is that with banks being forced to run a tighter ship, the expertise of risk managers has never been so much in demand. But is this really true?

"While you might think that the role of risk manager has been elevated, in fact the opposite is the case," says Christopher Whalen, managing director of Institutional Risk Analytics. "Organisations are in such a defensive posture at the moment that any personnel who are not directly tied to revenue are targets for cuts."

Recruiters agree that risk jobs aren't easy to come by as might be expected. This is particularly the case for market risk jobs.

"Since Easter, more roles have been created," says Priya Mariannie, risk consultant at recruiters PSD Group. "But this is not across the board. Lower trading volumes mean that market risk roles are incredibly rare, but credit and operational risk professionals are very much in demand."

A recent study by specialist risk recruiters GRS Group suggested that just 28% of firms intend to add to their headcount over the next six months.

Hannah Jeffery, manager of risk at Robert Walters, says there's definitely an appetite to hire risk professionals, but that getting headcount sign-off is another matter.

But David Butters, senior consultant at GRS, insists that although it takes a lot longer to recruit risk professionals now - between 12-16 weeks - the promised recruitment boom is beginning to emerge.

"Six months ago, it may have been a myth that more risk roles are being created, but now it's very much a reality," he says. "Insurance firms and investment banks are looking to recruit, particularly in operational risk, and a number of chief risk officers have been taken on with a view to position them at board level."