Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse increased UK headcount most last year

If you were asked to name the banks that increased staff in the City of London most last year, chances are you wouldn't settle upon Credit Suisse. However, the Swiss bank hiked UK registered headcount by 6.4% in 2015 - more than any of its rivals.

So say figures compiled from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) Register by finance-focused M&A boutique IMAS. Overall, the FCA figures suggest leading banks in the charts below cut UK registered headcount by 7.3% last year. Credit Suisse is, therefore, an anomaly.

Needless to say, the Swiss bank's UK headcount trend might reverse in 2016. New CEO Tidjane Thiam announced plans to cut 30% of the bank's London headcount during the bank's strategy review in October. And comments in today's Financial Times by a mysterious bank CEO who suggests 80% of jobs could be moved out of London may well have come from him. Credit Suisse is already moving as many as 200 London jobs to Dublin. 

Credit Suisse wasn't the only bank to hike UK registered headcount in 2015. Goldman Sachs International Bank (the IBD business of Goldman Sachs), Merrill Lynch International (aka Bank of America Merrill Lynch) and Goldman Sachs International (the UK operation as a whole), also increased UK employees. So too did Citigroup Global Markets and - surprisingly - Barclays Capital (Barclays Investment Bank).

It wasn't all about hiring, however. RBS, which is potentially making 80% to 90% of its investment bank employees redundant, cut UK registered staff numbers by 18% last year.

Photo credit: IMGP7030 by Matt Buck is licensed under CC BY 2.0.