Last month’s massive hirer in London appears to have been JPMorgan. Last month’s massive firer appears to have been Credit Suisse

As Financial News points out this morning, JPMorgan has emerged as the clear winner from the crisis of the past five years. Back in 2006, it ranked a mere 8th in terms of total FICC, equities and IBD revenues. In 2011, it ranked first.

Jes Staley, head of JPMorgan’s investment bank, said last month that the bank could have started a, ‘compensation arms race’ if it felt so inclined, but that it’s been restraining itself.

This is a shame because JPMorgan was by far the biggest hirer in London in February. As we noted last week, the bank is advertising 167 vacancies in the UK. New data by research firm IMAS shows that JPMorgan added around 51 net new approved persons in February – more than any other bank.

Meanwhile, Credit Suisse continued with its vigorous cost cutting, removing around 79 approved persons last month.

Other surprise and secret cutters in London in February included Deutsche and Goldman Sachs. Meanwhile, the other big February hirer seems to have been Jefferies – no surprises there.

Unusually, given the adverse rumours about its equities business (and following cuts in January), Citi seems to have been hiring equities staff. However, as with Banc of America Securities and Merrill Lynch International, this could simply represent the administrative transfer of staff from one business entity to another.

We’ve printed the full list below.

Net change in FSA approved persons in February

JPMorgan (all entities): 51

Jefferies: 34

Citigroup global markets UK equity: 8

Banc of America Securities: 15

BarCap: -8

Goldman Sachs: -9

Deutsche: -19

Nomura: -13

HSBC Bank: -28

Citigroup global markets: -16

Merrill Lynch International: -11

Credit Suisse (all entities): - 79

Source: IMAS