Where are the 460 people who want to work at the FSA?

15 February 2010

2 minute read

Where are the 460 people who want to work at the FSA?

The FSA is hiring. According to the Telegraph, it added 280 people last year, and intends to accumulate another 460 by around mid-2011.

A spokeswoman for the FSA confirms recruitment is underway ("Given our enhanced supervision we are looking to hire more people"). A quick look at the FSA's careers site confirms the seriousness of the intention: there are 58 jobs being advertised already.

Hiring at the FSA is nothing new. Headcount at the regulator went from 2,030 in 2001, to an anticipated 3,260 this year. However, recruitment at this point in time is slightly curious given uncertainties over the FSA's future.

Following the resignation of Hector Sants as chief executive of the Financial Services Authority two weeks ago, the Treasury is reportedly putting the search for Sants' successor on hold until after the election.

This is clearly because a Conservative win will prompt a dramatic overhaul of the FSA and all it stands for. Last week, Mark Hoban, the shadow financial secretary to the Treasury reiterated to the FT that the Conservatives plan to give the Bank of England Bank, 'responsibility for macro and micro prudential supervision in the first year. [Our emphasis]'

Several of the 460 roles the FSA is hiring for appear to involve precisely this kind of supervision. Admittedly, the FSA's supervisory positions are likely to be shifted to the Bank of England under a future Conservative government, but the transfer is likely to lead to considerable uncertainty. According to the Guardian, this uncertainty - combined with higher bonuses and salaries in banks, is making it hard for the FSA to attract people.

It might seem sensible, therefore, for the FSA to delay supervisory hiring until the second half of 2010. Evidently, the regulator feels it can't wait that long.

Marnie Woolf, at compliance search specialist Woolf & Co., says working in the FSA's supervisory area can be a good career move: "It's not a bad thing to have on your CV if you want to move into a compliance role in banking."

AUTHORSarah Butcher

Global Editor

Sa
Sarah, Editor, eFinancialCaree
16 February 2010
@milky - ah, well spotted. Have altered the text.
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9t
9th Ward
16 February 2010
cloudthecat, in my view, based on my experience dealing with the FSA, their employees think they are vastly smarter than they really are. Many (in my opinion) are utterly incompetent and ironically have an air of arrogance about themselves (jealous much?). They remind me of the unattractive person we all know that has an ego inflated well beyond proportions that reality would dictate. This (in my view) is why they view certain private sector workers with disdain. There are a number who couldn't cut it in the private sector and ended up at the FSA and there are others who couldn't get a job in the private sector if they tried (in my opinion of course).
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Mi
Milky
15 February 2010
I think you wil find that is 58 jobs, which is just a bit less...........
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Ev
Evan
15 February 2010
740 regulators at the Bank of England were moved over to the FSA, given that in early December 2009 the FSA told me there were just 16 regulators supervising the entire Barclays empire you might be forgiven for wondering what the rest of them do all day. The banks 'generate' the vast majority of complaints from consumers, they have also landed the taxpayer with a black hole, however the supervsiion of the branch staff and call centre employees in India and other places is where these new people should be aimed at PDQ, Tory meddling or otherwise.
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