Precisely how desperate is RBS to hire?

Reading some of the comments on this site, you'd think RBS would be prepared to recruit analysts with no more than A levels in citizenship and general studies. Recent recruits are rumoured to be leaving en masse, and the bank is said to be open to CVs from just about anyone.

Unfortunately for people hoping for easy access to roles in RBS Global Banking and Markets, this doesn't appear to be true.

A spokeswoman for RBS GBM says the bank isn't engaged in a hiring push and that there are no big plans to hire in the future.

This is verified by headhunters, who point out that RBS doesn't have that many holes and is unwilling to commit to recruitment until at least June, when some people are expected to leave following the payment of deferrals from both this year and last year.

RBS hasn't done much in the way of European hiring recently.

In Europe, it's merely announced the arrival of three senior advisors. and a global head of FIG.

Hiring has been more active overseas. In the past two months, RBS has recruited two equities traders and two senior equities professionals in Australia (as well as losing 10 members of its Australian team to Nomura). It's also hired a president for its business in the US.

Equally, there doesn't appear to have been the much-predicted exodus of senior staff (possibly because they haven't got their bonuses yet).

In London, RBS has merely lost a credit analyst and the former head of French fixed income sales to Jefferies.

Exits below the radar

Nevertheless, headhunters say the bank is losing a lot of staff, but only at a junior level.

"Loads of people are coming out of RBS," says one recruiter, who deals with junior staff. "We're getting contacted by a lot of their analysts, who want to move. They're not always finding it easy to do so though as they often don't have much experience."

Entrances below the radar

Equally, RBS does appear to be hiring, but away from the front office.

As we noted earlier this month, RBS is doing some big hiring in risk management, where it says finding people is "a challenge."

One risk recruiter working with the bank says they're restructuring the risk department and building new systems: "They need risk people and business analysts."

This doesn't mean getting into RBS is easy, however: "They're more fussy, if anything," he says.