eFinancialCareers

Scotland's fund management industry is booming – and it's not just the big operators who are looking to snap up new talent.

Fund manager Resolution Asset Management, which manages £40bn of funds, has just signed a 15-year lease on a new headquarters in Glasgow and has said it plans to bring its headcount in the region to 415 staff, up from 385 currently and 297 at the end of 2006.

According to Scottish Financial Enterprise, some £533bn of funds are now managed in Scotland, with asset servicing and investment management expected to be key areas of growth this year.

Fidelity International recently opened an Edinburgh office, in the process poaching Jonathan Cobb from Standard Life Investments.

And Dundee-based Alliance Trust, which plans to create 160 new jobs over the next three years, recently lured star fund manager Katherine Garret-Cox away from Morley Fund Management.

There's strong demand for fund managers with experience of global equities, fixed income, emerging markets and commercial property at the moment, says Peter Arthur, managing director of Edinburgh headhunter Fletcher Jones.

"Firms are looking to complement teams already in existence as well as to fill gaps. They are also alive to opportunities to create new niches for themselves such as long/short funds, global alpha equities and liability-driven investment. The general backdrop is pretty buoyant," he points out.

"There is also increasing mobility. Prospective employers are more prepared to discuss how they might tempt people from their existing companies; there is more willingness to explore how financial lock-ins (such as deferred bonuses) can be bought out, by for example 'golden hellos' or replacement incentives," he adds.

It's not just big names doing the hiring. Boutique operations such as Platinum Fund Managers – set up by former Martin Currie director Eric McAuslan in 2000 – Cartesian Capital Partners and Edinburgh Partners – set up in 2003 – have all now become part of the landscape north of the border.

What's also important is that growth is steady, stresses Joanna Black of Edinburgh-based Black Appointments: "Yes, Scotland is growing, but I would not say its growth is any different to other parts of the country," she says.