Are ETF traders really it?

Not long ago, Alphaville ran an article suggesting that ETF traders are the commodity du jour.

As evidence, it pointed to a spate of hiring, mostly in the US, involving Newedge Group and Knight Capital Group, both of which have been stocking up on Exchange Funded Traders of late. It also pointed to an article we ran in August on the general robustness of ETF hiring and shortage of appropriate candidates.

Is this really still the case four months on? Chris Sevenoaks, our specialist ETF hiring contact (now at recruitment firm Healy Hunt), doesn't exactly give the impression that the London market is about to succumb to a huge rush of hiring.

"There are a lot of ETF platforms starting up, but a lot of them will be staffed internally using existing people," he tells us.

Nevertheless, there's little denying that the ETF world is growing.

Vanguard is pushing into the UK market and is expected to hire in 2010; HSBC launched a European ETF in August and plans to roll out at least 10 more ETFs in the months to come and achieve a <b<leading position in Europe, implying at least some hiring - although positions are also likely to be filled internally; Lyxor has been expanding its offering. ETF Securities is also on a hiring spree in the US and Europe.

Barclays Global Investors predicts global ETF assets under management will reach $1,000bn by the year end.

However, the industry has also been shaken up. The recent completion of the merger between Blackrock and BGI resulted in around 10% of staff being made redundant according to our sources.

"The big area for ETF recruitment in 2010 will be London-based people for Continental Europe," predicts Sevenoaks. "In particular, I expect to see demand for people to work in German-speaking markets."