Why now might not be such a bad time for Lloyds private bankers to take redundancy

As Lloyds Banking Group prepares to off-load the Bank of Scotland private banking arm to Rathbone Brothers at the expense of 40 jobs, the advice to those on the receiving end of the redundancies is to get out now while firms north of the border are recruiting.

Lloyds has confirmed that it will be transferring 1.27bn worth of funds under management to private banking firm Rathbone Brothers for 35.4m.

Andy Pomfret, chief executive of Rathbone described it as "a very attractive opportunity to increase Rathbones' funds under management." Sadly, the Edinburgh-based Bank of Scotland staff are not part of the deal, and the 40-strong team will be cut by the end of 2011.

In hindsight, the defection of Kate Brown and seven of Bank of Scotland's investment team to Rensburg Sheppards last week seems like a shrewd move. It also shows, along with other recent hires, that Scottish wealth managers have an appetite to expand.

Lloyds says compulsory redundancies would be a "last resort", but should the remaining BoS employees choose to leave sooner rather than later, they'll find a good number of alternative job opportunities.

Douglas Kinnaird, director of Scottish headhunters, Macdonald Kinnaird, says: "The demand for wealth management professionals with a proven track-record, credibility and skills is massive currently. Any reputable firm in Scotland has seen an uptick in business."

This is a sentiment echoed by Rodolphe Mortreuil, founder and managing director of wealth management search firm McKinsey Mortreuil Clarke, who adds: "If their relationships with clients are strong enough, wealth management professionals will claim to be able to transport the business across."

We understand that Royal Bank of Scotland, Barclays Wealth, Adam & Co and Clydesdale Bank are all currently recruiting for private banking roles.