Five areas where banks are still recruiting for technology

As we've alluded to previously investment banks are still recruiting IT professionals despite a number of firms rolling out hiring freezes.

It would, however, be foolish to suggest that the buoyant levels of recruitment in the first half is continuing into the latter part of the year. Hiring has become more selective, but certain sectors and job roles remain relatively hot.

Based on conversations with recruiters who focus on hiring technologists into investment banks, we've concluded the following five areas are still providing opportunities.

1. Business analysts

Banks were reeling in development staff in the first half of this year, but with a number of projects already underway and budgets firming up for 2011, business analysts are being hired to think more strategically about IT.

"Most banks that we work with are recruiting for the classic business analyst role," says Paul Bennie, director of IT in finance recruiters Bennie MacLean. "New projects are still coming online, and firms are planning for Q1 next year. Therefore, they need people with an understanding of the business domain, but also have a grasp of the technology behind that."

"We're seeing a requirement within a number of the bulge bracket investment banks for technical BAs within the cash equities and equity derivatives space," adds James Brown, head of algorithmic trading and technology at Selby Jennings.

2. Prime services

A number of banks, including Credit Suisse and Morgan Stanley, have flagged prime services as an area of growth this year, while HSBC launched a new division at the beginning of the year. Not surprisingly, banks are also investing in IT projects.

"Prime services is a big area for us, with a lot of banks labelling the roles under 'platinum projects' - meaning something would have to go very wrong with the organisation for them to be cancelled," says Mark Warburton, partner and sales director at IT in finance recruiters 752 Solutions.

3. Development roles within FX, cash equities and equity derivatives

Sadly, there's no longer a rush to recruit developers, but a number of investment banks - including JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley, BarCap and SocGen - are still hiring, according to various recruitment sources.

"There's no one business area where development staff are particularly in demand," says Stephanie Marshall, head of permanent technology recruitment at Astbury Marsden. "Because there's been such a high degree of churn this year, most banks have a need to replace headcount across the board."

4. Commodities

We've pointed out before the commodities tech race within both investment banks and trading houses previously, but this is one area banks are still building their tech teams.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs are all hiring, according to recruiters.

"Banks are recruiting for both developers and technical architects to build out commodity platforms for greenfield projects, primarily within derivative products," says Brown.

5. OTC derivatives

With financial regulators pushing for greater transparency and centralised clearing around OTC derivatives, banks are getting in on the act and offering their own clearing services.

IT is central to this move, and towards the middle of this year firms were beginning to buy into the idea that significant tech investment was necessary. As this issue is still in a relatively nascent stage, there's still likely to be a need to recruit technologists in the near future.