How badly has Scotland's financial sector been hit?

Those you with a long memory for government initiatives might remember the establishment of the Financial Sector Jobs Taskforce in early 2009 when things took a turn for the worse, aimed at minimising job losses in the industry. A year later, what has it managed to achieve?

The short answer, at least when it comes to keeping job losses under control, would be not a great deal.

Over the course of the last 12 months, both Lloyds Banking Group and RBS have substantially cut back their Scottish workforce, while life and pensions and asset management firms have also been required to pare back their teams.

The taskforce's achievements were highlighted in the latest annual report from the Financial Services Advisory Board (FiSAB) annual report

In truth, it was always fighting a losing battle when it came to stemming job losses last year - particularly within the two big banks, which have been aggressively stripping back their balance sheets after tapping the state coffers.

But this isn't the group's only aim; it also engages with downsizing companies to ensure that employees are gaining access to career advice, as well as partnering up with various firms to ensure that those on the receiving end of redundancies are matched to potential job opportunities.

Here, rather predictably, it claims to have achieved some degree of success. Unfortunately, when it comes to employment in the financial sector, there's no statistical data to back it up.

Obviously, there's been the headline grabbing redundancy announcements, then the smaller cuts occurring under the radar, while those firms that have been recruiting took more cautious approach throughout 2009.

But the figures from the Annual Business Inquiry quoted in the FiSAB report relate to 2008 - arguably the height of the boom and when the banking sector, with 50,000 people, was the sector's biggest employer. With 7,000 jobs Scotland's two largest banks alone, it's safe to say there's far fewer people working in the industry now.

More recently, though, Scotland's financial sector had some degree of success attracting new jobs. Tesco Personal Finance, Virgin Money, HSBC, Barclays Capital and Morgan Stanley have all been bolstering their teams north of the border.

What's more, as the chart below shows, financial services still pays substantially more than the average salary in Scotland, which should ensure - despite the blows dealt to the industry over the last year - that it continues to attract a pipeline of skilled graduates.