UK stocks have made modest gains on the day that Chancellor Jeremy Hunt unveiled plans to overhaul post-2008 financial services regulations (Victoria Jones/ PA)
(Picture: PA Archive)The City is defying predictions of a post Brexit jobs cull with last year seeing a record-breaking year for financial services jobs in England and Wales.
While big banks have been cutting back on staff numbers due to a dearth of deal making and new stock market floats, demand for IT staff is booming.
A review of finance Labour market trends by Morgan McKinley and Vacancysoft shows that there were 87,000 new professional finance sector jobs in 2022, of which 45,000 were in London.
That’s a jump of 27.4% on 2021.
Post Brexit, some commentators and politicians predicted an exodus of jobs from the City as rival financial centres such as Paris and Frankfurt pushed their case. This happened at the margins in niche areas at worst.
Morgan McKinley warned against complacency however.
Managing director Hakan Enver said: “Firms will need the right support and reassurance from the Government to provide confidence in what is likely to be an uncertain year. The Government must take action to solidify the UK’s competitive advantage and inject investment into both London and the rest of the UK by increasing trade deals, simplifying tax and investing in technology innovation".
Radius Payment Solutions was the biggest individual hirer of talent last year. Sage and Revolut also took on hundreds more staff.
The big investment banks have suffered a slowdown however. Some bankers are waiting to hear what their bonus is for last year’s efforts. In some cases it will be a doughnut – City slang for a big fat zero.
