Here's how to find hundreds of London financial services jobs that lack applicants AND pay cash bonuses

Rumours continue to reach us of hiring freezes at some investment banks, in some investment banking business areas (markets).

If you can't get a job in a bank, you could always try applying for a financial services consulting job in the Big Four accountancy firms. Last September, Deloitte said it wanted 400 new management consultants by May 2011, E&Y said it wanted 200, KPMG wanted 550 and PWC wanted 300-500 over the next 12 months.

Some of those roles still seem to be on offer. According to recruiters, the accountancy firms are having trouble filling them.

The big jobs at PWC

For example, PricewaterhouseCoopers' careers site reveals a total of 59 financial services consultancy jobs currently available in London.

Much of this hiring is focused on financial services regulation. In July 2010, PWC opened its, "Financial Services Regulatory Centre of Excellence," comprising some of its, "deepest regulatory experts" in financial services. It needs more expertise and is advertising for managers, senior managers, and regulatory consultants.

Promisingly, PWC says regulatory consulting is one of its fastest growing businesses and that it intends to treble its revenues here by 2015. It's also looking for 'capital markets and product control consultants' on the grounds that banks are increasingly "turning to PWC for advice on how to stabilise their product control and valuation operations and how to enhance existing price verification processes."

Although capital markets and product control consultants will need to have an accountancy qualification, PWC's risk and regulatory roles could attract disaffected bankers: they mostly require banking experience, product knowledge and a "good understanding of the regulatory environment."

No one from PWC was available to enlighten us further, unfortunately.

The big jobs at the other Big Four firms

PWC isn't alone in still seeking people with financial services knowledge.

E&Y is also advertising 98 financial services advisory jobs in London and wants managers and senior managers to participate in its "journey" through wholesale banking and capital markets. It's particularly looking for people to join its commodities trading and risk management team in London, which is "experiencing tremendous growth." And it wants quants.

Deloitte has got 62 financial services consulting jobs open in London, including some in its "Operations Excellence Capital Markets" team.

KPMG appears to be the only Big Four firm not chasing financial services professionals any more: it's got a mere 6 regulatory roles open in London and only 9 risk jobs.

The big jobs in regulatory consulting generally

Beyond the Big Four, regulatory consulting is still a boom area. Stephen Burke, director at IMS Group, says they're hiring at least one new consultant every month and that these hires come mostly from other consulting firms or industry (banking or asset management.)

"The drivers are quite simply the fact that regulation is off the scale," says Burke. "There's the Retail Distribution Review, UCITs IV, Dodd Frank, the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive, and the revision of the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive.

"A lot of consultancies didn't hire people during the downturn and they're now all looking to hire at the same time," he adds.

The bad news is that you can't become a regulatory consultant if you don't have financial services experience already. "It's all about credibility," says Burke. "You need some financial services expertise on your CV."

Compensation in consulting

Consultancy jobs don't pay nearly as much as front office banking roles, which is why so few people have been interested in them historically.

However, neither do they pay badly.

One recruiter tells us he placed a Big Four quant straight out of university on a starting salary of 50k. Another says he placed a director-level financial services consultant (the rank above senior manager) on a salary of 150k plus a bonus of up to 40%.

Appealingly, bonuses at Big Four firms aren't subject to deferrals and there's the promise of far more money to come.

"At director level, you'll get your basic salary, plus a cash bonus, plus the hope of equity partnership in future," says David Howell, managing director at recruitment firm EM Group. "That's what every director at a Big Four firm is really hoping for."