Lunchtime Links: Fairly depressing new job-disaster in February

As we suggested yesterday, banks' recruitment plans could be aversely affected by the ongoing catalogue of global disasters. The Wall Street Journal today speculates that Q1 earnings might possibly be impacted.

Compounding the existing gloom, new figures from recruitment firm Morgan McKinley suggest things aren't totally great when it comes to financial services recruitment in London: the number of new jobs in London apparently fell 2% month on month in February, which is hardly normal for this time of year. In the same month, there were 5,135 more new jobs than new candidates.

Morgan McKinley makes an effort to pass off the February-new-jobs-decline as quite normal, saying it was partly due to the increase in hiring in January. Historically, however, it is anything but. In February 2010, Morgan McKinley's own figures showed new jobs rising 13%; in February 2009 they rose 9%. They even rose (2%) in February 2008. Doom, doom and more of the same.

"I got a request yesterday to fly 14 people from Tokyo to Hong Kong, 5 hour 5 minutes trip. They did not care about price." (Reuters)

"Singapore, Hong Kong - I don't care, I just want to get my children out, everybody else has," said one British woman married to an investment banker. (Financial Times)

Meanwhile, in Portugal...(FT Alphaville)

Increase in the number of wealthy people from the Middle East who'd really like to live in the UK Financial Times

If you put 5m in a British bank account you'll be most welcome to stay here indefinitely after 3 years (Telegraph)

Losses at RAB Capital trebled last year (This is London)

"Do not underestimate the impact Pierre-Henri Flamand had on guys running prop desks. They are probably thinking 'I could do that.' (Reuters)

Swiss IT employee at UBS is peeved about inordinately large bonuses paid to 'heartless managers' in the US (Swiss Info)

Top bankers are being grilled by MPs about bonuses, again (Guardian)

Ex-City minister says banker bashing is a "persistent boil of hysteria and resentment". (Guardian)