Techies have been hit by Credit Suisse headcount cuts

Credit Suisse may have been overly-exuberant in hiring techies during the first half of 2010, to the point where IT was one of the main targets for redundancy in the final quarter of last year.

Headcount within its investment banking division was down 500 from Q3, due to what it calls "selective reduction" in the front office and a shrinking number of IT professionals.

This seems like a strange development. In the first half of 2010, the bank was investing heavily in recruiting technology professionals. In the first quarter alone, it added 600 people, largely in IT and in May had nearly 200 live roles for technology professionals in its UK investment bank.

But has this IT recruitment spree in 2010 been a little over-egged?

"Credit Suisse was active in the first half of last year, but reality is that it was far from the most aggressive recruiter in the City," argues one IT in finance recruiter. "I would say that BarCap and UBS were the most active technology recruiters in 2010."

There also seems little evidence of the fall out from Credit Suisse's technology functions in London. The recruiters we spoke to said they had seen no more CVs coming out of the bank than normal, and that they'd been told any technology hiring was due to take place after the post-bonus attrition.

But with Credit Suisse's compensation decidedly less generous this year than in 2009, recruiters are anticipating more fallout than usual.

"This year's bonuses are unlikely to sit well with those at the senior end, who received some generous packages in 2009, and we're expecting some departures," says another IT in finance headhunter. "We're also expecting people who were brought in for projects that were subsequently shelved to be looking for new opportunities."

Perhaps much of Credit Suisse's IT investment has instead been in the private bank. Headcount was up 5% year-on-year "mainly due to an increase in IT professionals" said the bank.