EDITOR'S TAKE: Now is not the time to be proud
Remember Morgan Stanley? More specifically, cast your mind back to July 2007, when the US investment bank announced the creation of 600 roles in Glasgow after receiving a 6m Regional Assistance Scheme (RSA) award and the subsequent furore that erupted when it said that, actually, it would have probably expanded north of the border anyway.
This week's announcement from Barclays is an almost mirror image scenario. The bank has an existing Glasgow presence through its Aurora operations centre; it's creating an additional 600 jobs over a number of years and has been handed 6.6m in RSA funding to help it do so.
The difference is that the move has been greeted with almost universal applause - evidence of Glasgow's appeal as a centre of operations excellence and the ever-increasing lure of the city's skilled workforce for international financial services organisations.
But let's break this down. A 6.6m grant means the Scottish government is paying 1.1m per 100 roles created, or an 11k subsidy for each job, which pay an average of 35k. This is a contribution that few firms, particularly those with an existing Scottish infrastructure, would sniff at.
Of course, Barclays is not the only financial services firm to tap the RSA's coffers - J. P. Morgan, Morgan Stanley, BNP Paribas and esure have all received money to aid job creation.
But clearly, in these times of public sector austerity, using state funds to incentivise a highly profitable firm like Barclays is not without controversy. The difference now, unlike in previous years, though is that Scotland's financial sector really needs this RSA aid.
One of the aims of the RSA scheme is to help entice operations to areas of low employment. On the back of yet another round of redundancies at RBS, as well as the relatively severe cuts at Standard Life - not to mention all jobs lost over the last two years - Scotland's financial services industry now, unfortunately, falls into this category.
Yes, many financial firms in Scotland are recruiting again in not insignificant numbers, but what the sector needs now is fireworks - a tub-thumping expansion plan to announce a return to positivity.
If that comes with a state-supported arm-twister, then so be it. In the long-run, 6.6m might be small change to a company like Barclays, but the money only materialises when the jobs are created, so it's an extra incentive to ensure the promises aren't reneged on.
