SWIP stands out as active recruiter as most asset managers put hiring plans on ice

In the face of the eurozone crisis, most UK asset managers have curtailed their appetite for recruitment in recent months. The exception north of the border is Scottish Widows Investment Partnership, which (as expected) is continuing to hire.

This week SWIP unveiled Andrew Paisley as an investment director to co-manage its two underperforming UK smaller companies funds alongside Gregor MacDonald, but this is the latest in a string of new recruits.

Within the last month, it's also hired Bindesh Savjani as director of risk, Sarah Wall as senior asset backed security analyst within its fixed income division and Peter Clarke as institutional sales director in its UK team.

This also follows on from a number of new appointments in its international equities team earlier this year, as well as hiring Erik Vynckier as an investment director in its financial solutions group and Michael Lee as head of consultant relationships in its sales team.

Most of these hires are, of course, at a relatively senior level, but fund management headhunters we spoke to in Scotland suggest that SWIP remains an active recruiter at various levels while other firms put hiring plans on ice.

"It's been a tough couple of months for fund management recruitment, but SWIP is still hiring relatively aggressively, while most other firms are placing hiring plans under review," claims one asset management headhunter who declined to be named.

Fund managers have been recruiting less and less since September last year, and their appetite for hiring is likely to decline in the third quarter, according to the latest PwC/CBI Financial Services Survey.

So why is SWIP still hiring? To some extent this could be viewed as replenishing the ranks after some high profile departures in both its fixed income and equities teams over the last two years.

But the firm insists that it's more about expansion. Lynne Dalgarno, director HR at SWIP told us in March that the plan was to increase headcount by 50-70 this year on the back of new assets under management.