Banks focusing on reining in costs: Report
The number of new vacancies also continued to fall throughout the summer, as layoffs began to sweep the sector and banks reined in costs, with openings dropping 17 per cent from July to August, recruiters Astbury Marsden said.
New jobs in London have tailed off dramatically since the start of the year, when vacancies rose 20 per cent in the first quarter from previous year, according to COO Mark Cameron.
These are now down by nine per cent in the year to date, compared to the same period in 2010, he added.
Vacancies are still not as scarce as they were in the period after in the collapse of Lehman Brothers, however, when new job creation fell to below 2,000 per month. Just over 4,000 were created in August this year, Astbury Marsden said.
Banks in Europe and the United States have announced over 70,000 job cuts since the start of this year, after trading income tanked amid concerns about the global economy.
"We are expecting some improvements — albeit not dramatic — during September and through to the end of October as banks and other city firms revert to a degree of normality and start to prepare for 2012," Cameron said.
