Monday's Headlines: Finance jobs down 19% in London, BofA goes after Mass Affluent

In London, financial services jobs are down 19 percent, but fewer people are looking for work as the number of job vacancies at London's financial services companies fell in September to the lowest this year, according to Bloomberg.

Citing a survey by recruitment consulting firm Morgan McKinley, Bloomberg reports job openings in the London's main financial district plummeted 19 percent to 3,843 for the month from 4,725 in the same period a year ago.

Meanwhile, the number of job seekers for the sector fell 21 percent during the month, while salaries for new positions were up 6 percent to $86,274 from August.

A separate survey from recruitment consultant Astbury Marsden said there is still demand for regulation and compliance professionals, following last month's $2.3 billion loss from unauthorized trading at UBS and mounting pressure on banks related to tax compliance.

"With so much political focus on banks, they know that any slip-ups in this kind of area are going to attract dramatic sanctions," said Mark Cameron, chief operating officer at Astbury Marsden.

Other News:

BofA is growing its Merrill Edge-aimed at the mass affluent-with the addition of 500 in-branch salaried employees with Series 7 and Series 66 licenses by the end of this year. [Investment News]

Advisory firms are seeking fresh talent-partly to jump-start growth, which has slowed in the past year, and partly as a form of succession planning. [Investment News]

Regulators closed banks in Missouri and Minnesota, bringing the nationwide tally of bank failures up to 76 for the year. [WSJ]

Hedge funds suffer worst quarter since 2008. [Financial Times]

Regulators are cracking down on computerized high-speed trading that crowds today's stock exchanges. [NYTimes]

Erste Group Bank AG, eastern Europe's second-biggest lender, expects to post a full-year loss of $1.1 billion. [BusinessWeek]

Belgium's biggest bank and insurer KBC Groep will sell its private banking unit to Precision Capital in Luxembourg for $1.41 billion. [Bloomberg]

Wall Street demonstrations point to growing cynicism among future investors. [Investment News]