Five countries which would gladly accept applications from Irish financial services professionals

It's official: Ireland's emigration problems are worse than during the 1980s. An unprecedented 1,000 people are leaving every week, and a net 100,000 people are tipped by the Economic and Social Research Institute to have left the Emerald Isle by 2012.

Among these are likely to be the new legions of unemployed coming out of Ireland's financial sector. But, aside from the dearth of Flock of Seagulls haircuts and stonewash jeans, there are reasons to believe things are decidedly more upbeat than during the eighties.

For a start, Ireland is largely a worst case scenario, and if financial professionals decide to make a break, there are opportunities available to them overseas.

Here's our thoughts on which countries you should be applying to and why.

United Kingdom

For the unadventurous, a quick flight across the Irish Sea might seem like an obvious solution. Cracks have begun to show in the City of late, however, with the large investment banks posting a second consecutive quarter of below par results on the back of collapsing revenues in their FICC divisions.

It's unlikely that too many Irish financial services professionals would be looking to the front office roles in investment banks anyway. If back office is your bag then you're in luck, with hiring plans underway at JPMorgan, Barclays Capital and Morgan Stanley, particularly at the graduate level. Unfortunately, this may necessitate a move to the not-particularly-glamorous locations of Bournemouth or Glasgow.

Asset management recruitment, however, has begun to look decidedly healthier lately, with most independent houses and branches of investment banks building their teams.

Finally, with middle market lending expected to be a big revenue driver in 2011, some banks - such as JP Morgan and Bank of America Merrill Lynch - have indicated a desire to recruit in this corporate bankers in Europe. With employment prospects still shaky, this could prove alluring to corporate bankers in Ireland.

Luxembourg (or New Zealand)

Ireland's funds industry recovered in 2010, with most firms recruiting once again across a range of roles and assets under administration grew to a record €1.8 trillion this year.

But Luxembourg's funds industry is looking non-too-shabby. As at November 2010, total assets stood at €2.1trillion, which is a 20.7% increase on the previous year, according to figures from the Association of the Luxembourg Fund Industry. It's safe to say that with the obvious cross-over in skills, it wouldn't be a huge leap of faith to move to the Grand Duchy.

Further afield, New Zealand's previously stated ambition to grow as a centre for fund administration could lead to a need to recruit from the depth of talent in Ireland.

Australia

Australia has long been a location of choice for Ireland's emigrating accountants and, to a lesser extent, insurance professionals looking for new challenge or a chance to escape. Now, however, it's hoping to lure Ireland's bankers down under.

One Irish financial services recruiter tells us he's in the process of setting up a partnership with an Aussie agency, whereby they provide the talent in return for a heads-up on the vacancies.

"Already, Irish bankers are moving to Australia and finding a large Irish expat community," he says. "When they send their kids to the local school, they're surprised by the number of Irish accents."

Certainly, there's a decent supply of roles on offer this year. Relationship managers for business lending activities are in demand, as are analysts in the leveraged finance sector.

Singapore

Think of Singapore, and the hundreds of roles coming out of private banks in the region immediately spring to mind. With wealth management recruitment muted in Ireland, the thought of a move seems appealing. Unfortunately, as we've highlighted before, making the switch from a Western market is not as easy as many assume.

However, there are numerous hot sectors in Singapore that chime with expertise available in Ireland's financial sector. Financial IT expertise has been highly in demand and banks are willing to pay for specific banking expertise. And change management, which has been a big area of focus within Ireland's banks, is tipped to take off this year.

US

The lure of Wall Street has always proved a big carrot for financial services professionals in Ireland, but it's worth bearing in mind that the job market has been slow to recover state side.

Over the last 12 months, the number of roles at banks and underwriters declined by 262,000, according to Bureau of Labour Statistics figures and most firms are stabilising rather than expanding.

Hot spots remain, however, including credit risk, compliance and technology roles. These are still relatively buoyant in Ireland so, bearing in mind the increasingly onerous visa application process, there seems little incentive to move...