eFinancialCareers

Cracks are beginning to appear in Scotland’s previously solid financial services industry as it suffered the biggest ever fall in quarterly output. The Scottish government hasn’t exactly been quick out of the blocks to report the slump, only just revealing that financial services suffered an 8.4% decline in the first three months of 2008. The biggest driver of this was the banking sector, which slipped by10.9% in Q1 – and... Read more

Despite posting the second biggest loss (£691m) in UK banking history, analysts say Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) is unlikely to make any more redundancies than those already expected from the integration of ABN Amro’s capital markets division. This morning, RBS posted a pre-tax loss of £691m during the first half of this year after being pounded by sub-prime losses of £5.9bn. Sir Fred Goodwin, chief executive of RBS, said it had... Read more

Female bankers have largely failed to claw their way up the career ladder in Scotland, according to one top headhunter. Douglas Kinnaird, director of Macdonald Kinnaird in Glasgow, has been recruiting executives for over 20 years. Over that period he’s compiled figures for the number of applicants for roles that have been female. This has totted up to a measly 4.8% this year – up from 3.2% when he... Read more

After the flurry of corporate finance deals in Scotland in the lead up to the implementation of the capital gains tax changes, transactions have slowed. But accountancy firms north of the border continue to bolster their advisory teams. Grant Thornton expanded its corporate finance team this week, with the appointment of Scott Langlands and David Sloan, along with announcing a series of promotions in that division. Similarly, Graeme Smith was... Read more

Quietly booming in the Granite City of Aberdeen is the oil and gas industry. And guess what? It’s desperate for qualified accountants, who have seen double digit pay rises over the last 12 months. A study by Hays Senior Finance reveals that the opportunities for financial professionals in Scotland’s burgeoning oil and gas sector far outstrips the number of people willing to make the move to Aberdeen, which is driving... Read more

Things are looking grim at Scottish giant HBOS. Not only are its cheeks burning from a £4bn rights issue that left 62% of shares on the underwriters’ books, but it has announced plans to axe 650 jobs in its business banking division over the next 18 months. What hope is there for Scotland’s out of work bankers? The job losses are likely to result from the merger of two... Read more

Around 2,000 jobs in financial services could be lost by the end of the year, according to a new report, but these are likely to be in the slumping property sector. The labour market report, by Inverness-based Mackay Consultants, says the credit crunch has begun to bite into financial headcount north of the border, thanks to write-downs at Royal Bank of Scotland and HBOS. Tony Mackay, author of the report,... Read more

Scottish fund manager Martin Currie has been extolling the virtues of being independent, and is set to capitalise on recent strong performance by hiring 18 investment professionals. The firm reported a 60% growth in pre-tax profits for 2007, to £25.6m. And it reckons the credit crunch has yet to affect growth plans for 2008. Willie Watt, chief executive of Martin Currie, says: “We have no plans to cut jobs and... Read more

UK private bank Brown Shipley has set up an Edinburgh office and plans to expand aggressively over the coming 18 months. But is Scotland’s talent pool deep enough to support yet another new player? Brown Shipley has poached Graham Auld and Victoria Drysdale from Deutsche Tilney to run its Edinburgh office and says it has ambitious plans to expand north of the border. John Williams, the firm’s private client divisional... Read more

Scotland’s accountants have had a bumper 12 months, aided by Alistair Darling's capital gains tax (CGT), but firms still face one stumbling block on the path to growth – a lack of qualified staff. Darling’s CGT proposals mean owners of businesses are trying to sell them and cash in before the new taxes are levied. This means that businesses are being sold which in turn means there's work for corporate... Read more

One Scottish investment group in bullish expansion mode this year is boutique firm Noble. It has poached two Merrill Lynch directors just weeks after expanding its research team. Noble has managed to lure Laura Mould and Paul Beumont, who were previously directors of Merrill Lynch’s small and mid-cap business. The swoop for Mould seems especially impressive considering she joined Merrill as an intern in 1999 and worked her way up... Read more

The indignity of it was too much for one politician to bear. Morgan Stanley, thinking of starting a Glasgow operation last year, was handed £6m by the government to make the move to Scotland. Then it turned out they would have set up here anyway. Fuming, Derek Brownlee MSP, Scottish Conservatives finance spokesman, spluttered: “You can only justify the use of taxpayers’ money to create jobs if they would not... Read more

Scotland, quite simply, can’t get enough accountants, and is looking to more and more exotic locales to attract talent. Poland, which has long been touted as the answer to the UK’s employee shortfall, is predictably on the list. However, Scottish firms are also turning to Australia, New Zealand, Russia, mainland Europe and Africa. Chiene + Tait, an Edinburgh-based accountancy firm, says it’s been forced to look overseas for candidates in... Read more

Is the credit crunch making the Scots bluer than the Saltire, or do the Scots just need cheering up? BNP Paribas in Glasgow has apparently hired a culture consultant who’s prescribed more laughter for its staff (The Independent). But Margaret Dyer, director of Joslin Rowe in Scotland, pours cold water on the notion that Scots financiers are unduly dour: “BNP have expanded their business in Glasgow. They will have... Read more

Financial services professionals are no longer the most in demand in Scotland, but recruiters insist the market is as active as ever. The Bank of Scotland Labour Market Report acts as a barometer of employment in the country, and shows that the number of financial services jobs in Scotland fell slightly in May. In February, accounting and finance had the largest number of vacancies in Scotland. Now the sector ranks... Read more

Baillie Gifford’s Pacific Fund has recently lost its co-manager Ben Lloyd, who, according to FT Advisor, is planning to travel in China for a spot of R&R. Stephen Leach, head of human resources at Baillie Gifford in Edinburgh, says it’s all part of a trend: “Modern generations have become less shy about requesting sabbaticals.” According to Leach, Scottish fund managers have made use of extended leave to visit relations... Read more

Could the Scottish reputation for prudence encourage bankers burned by the credit crunch to seek solace north of the border? It seems doubtful, but Simon Thompson, chief executive of the Chartered Institute of Bankers in Scotland, seems to think it might be a possibility. Speaking at a conference recently, he said: “One of the big strengths of the Scottish financial services industry is our emphasis on prudence and professionalism. It's... Read more

US giant Federated Investors has emerged as the favourite to acquire Edinburgh’s Artemis Investment. But could the corporate influence shatter the boutique culture? In spite of running £15.7bn in assets under management, Artemis is tiny. It was founded in 1997 by Mark Tyndall, John Dodd, Derek Stuart and Lindsay Whitelaw and has since recruited 12 other asset managers. Belgian Dutch bank Fortis acquired Artemis after it bought pieces of ABN AMRO last... Read more

Scottish Widows Investment Partnership (SWIP) has become the first Scottish asset manager to set up an office in the Middle East. SWIP has chosen Saudi Arabia as its Gulf area of choice, and is thought to be taking the joint venture route with local firm Fawaz Alkohair. Other large asset managers, including BNP Paribas Asset Management, Prudential Asset Management, Schroders and Pictet Asset Management have also set up offices in... Read more

“The more investment hits the TV screens and the more pension fund trustees read about it, the more they want to know the impact.” So says a source at Aon Consulting, explaining increased demand for investment consultants for pension consulting in Scotland. At HSBC Actuaries & Consultants, they tell us the firm’s expanding and they’re actively hiring, although not on a specific regional basis. They add that there’s currently “unprecedented”... Read more