Given a choice, would you rather be approached by a headhunter or a bank's in-house recruitment team?

It's part and parcel of being a senior banker that you'll be approached by headhunters for your next career move, but would you be comfortable talking to an executive search function of the bank itself?

A lot of banks, of course, have in-house recruitment teams or RPO agreements, but these tend to focus on more junior roles or back and middle office functions.

Less common is an executive search function in the banks. RBS has had one for around five years, which targets senior hires across the group, UBS uses in-house headhunters for some roles at MD level and above, and JP Morgan also utilises hiring managers for senior recruits.

Perhaps reassuringly for independent headhunters, senior bankers we spoke to said they still prefer approaches from third-parties.

"It's just a cleaner approach," says one senior corporate banker. "You're one step removed from the role, which helps preserve your anonymity during the first stages. They're also mandated for a position, which means if they're particularly keen to get you hired, they're willing to go that extra mile."

Another investment banking MD tells us that he's increasingly being targeted by banks' in-house executive search teams. However, if he is approached by banks directly, he prefers a personal touch.

"My last three career moves have actually been through direct approaches from banks, but in each case it's been by someone I know," he says. "I'd remain sceptical of a random approach from an in-house headhunting team."

One director of a search to search firm, who declined to be named, said it was an "increasing trend" that banks were targeting headhunters for in-house executive search functions.

For banks, developing these in-house recruitment methods is also another way of ensuring that external headhunters aren't hiring for you while simultaneously poaching from you.

Headhunters have been quick to disparage their value, however.

"It's all very well using in-house recruiters for CV-driven middle office roles, but sometimes there are only a few people in the world who can perform the role we've been mandated for, so deep industry knowledge is key," says one head of a fixed income search boutique. "I'd also say moving in-house isn't a smart career move. There's more job security, but that's about the only benefit."