eFinancialCareers

Scottish financial services workers are more in the dark about their bonuses than any other country, according to our survey. The eFinancialCareers.com global survey, which took in responses from 18,000 financial services professionals worldwide, revealed that a huge 47.4% of Scottish respondents don’t know whether to expect a higher or lower bonus this year. Meanwhile 34.6% anticipate more money than last year, and 17.9% expect to see a slide. The respondents were spread... Read more

Fifty staff in Standard Life’s UK protection business could face the axe – but the firm insists it will attempt to move them to other business areas. Standard Life said in a statement this week that a “fiercely price competitive” protection market – which covers situations like income protection and critical illness – had forced the cuts. The firm stated: “It makes more commercial sense for us to focus our resource and... Read more

Dell’s plan to add 150 jobs in Glasgow and 55 in Edinburgh should help solidify Scotland’s status as a financial services IT centre. The US computer giant has cut 10% of its workforce globally, but is now spearheading an expansion in Glasgow, where it plans to increase its workforce to 1,000, up from 850 currently. Fifty-five employees in the capital are to kick-start the development in January, as Dell aims to transform... Read more

Scotland is set to benefit from a Barclays Wealth back-office bonanza as the firm looks to commit 1,600 jobs to the region. No sooner do we question the security of back-office jobs in Scotland than a big bank goes and increases its presence in the country. So far this year Barclays Wealth has taken on 145 staff in its Glasgow office, which focuses on HR, finance, technology, risk and operations. It’s now... Read more

Lloyds TSB’s private equity arm has opened an Edinburgh office and looks set to expand into Aberdeen and Glasgow. Craig Armour, previously a partner in private equity firm Penta Capital, is set to head the operation, which is the 13th Lloyds TSB Development Capital (LDC) regional office and the first to be based north of the border. “We prefer to work alongside the corporate finance community, and the best way to do... Read more

The gloves are off in the Scottish fund management industry, as newcomers to Edinburgh have sparked a war for talent. “There’s a lot of poaching going on – it’s a dog-eat-dog world. The cosy deal that once existed in Scotland where they wouldn’t touch each other’s people has long since been ripped up,” says one headhunter in the region. The traditional culture of loyalty in the fund management industry harks back to... Read more

Scotland may have been left relatively unscathed by the credit crunch, but analysts advise financial services employees to watch their back (office). Merrill Lynch has revealed that it is to axe 65 jobs in its Mortgages Plc division in Glasgow, and with other banks with back-office units in the city posting losses, could this herald more redundancies? “I think generally there is a poor visibility at the moment in the markets,... Read more

Glasgow has aspirations to compete as a financial centre, but will its back-office focus leave it wanting on the global stage? In a recent ranking of global financial centres, Edinburgh scraped into the top 20, but the report’s authors say they have received numerous requests for Glasgow to be added to the mix. Michael Mainelli, one of the report's authors from Z/Yen Group, says: “Some people think that it has the potential... Read more

Newly qualified accountants in Scotland are in the privileged position of being able to cherry-pick the best roles, such is the current demand for their services. A report by recruiter Joslin Rowe is the second in as many months to suggest the financial services industry in Scotland is thriving to the extent that roles simply cannot be filled. New permanent roles have rocketed up over the past 12 months by nearly 43%,... Read more

Scotland’s financial sector continues to boom. But where are all the people to fill the jobs? The most recent Bank of Scotland survey of the Scottish labour market, published in October, reveals finance and accounting employers are facing acute skills shortages – they rank second behind engineering and construction as finding it hardest to fill roles. The gaping hole in the supply of talent might be down to the fact that Scotland... Read more

Is Edinburgh a world-leading financial centre (and commensurately good place to develop your career)? Only just. The city has slipped five places in a survey of top financial centres, but scraped into the top 20 cities in the world. In the second report from the Global Financial Centres Index, commissioned by the City of London Corporation, Edinburgh ranked 20th out of 50 centres, down from 15th in a survey earlier this year. The... Read more

Forget cash, it’s the right corporate culture that Scottish financial services employees want. In contrast to their money-hungry counterparts south of the border, 88% of financial services workers in Scotland rate an organisation’s culture as more important than remuneration, according to a survey by recruiters Badenoch & Clark. Margaret Hare, recruitment consultant at Qualitas in Scotland, says: “I would say that we have seen a move towards candidates looking towards the more... Read more

Worried that investment banks culling staff in London will send a flood of City-slickers cap-in-hand to Scotland? Fear not. The Centre for Economic and Business Research’s forecast of 6,500 financial services job cuts in London have understandably left City workers hot under their pink collars. In light of this revelation, we asked our readers where they would go if they were to lose their jobs. A total of 1,070 responded and... Read more

Resolution could see its asset management arm swallowed by Standard Life if the takeover goes ahead. It’s not good news for its fund managers. Standard Life is teaming up with Swiss Re in a bid to pip Friends Provident’s acquisition of the Glasgow-based insurer. Analysts predict that the overlap in asset management functions could see Resolution’s staff being forced to up sticks to Standard Life's Edinburgh office. “We think that the asset... Read more

Investment managers in Scotland not convinced by the attraction of the big institutions might want to consider law firms as an alternative. This unlikely route into investment management is booming north of the border, as the traditional role of the Scottish solicitor – a man of business involved in clients’ financial affairs – has evolved into a multi-million pound industry. “Investment management within law firms is particularly well developed in Scotland,” says... Read more

Edinburgh-based fund manager Martin Currie has revamped its graduate recruitment scheme in a bid to develop talent in-house. The re-launched version offers trainees experience in sector-focused teams as well as offering a CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst) programme. The firm advertises in 10 universities (although it declined to say which ones), but remains open to applicants from elsewhere. Recruits must have a minimum of a 2:1 degree, but the subjects can be wide-ranging.... Read more

With contemporary art prices rising 55% in the past year, Scotland’s private bankers would do well to know their Monet from their Manet. However, while London’s investment scene appears convinced of the benefits of art as an investment class (witness this week’s Frieze Art Fair, which is expected to raise £145m), Scotland may be falling behind. The Bank of Scotland is sadly lacking in art expertise at its private banking arm, while... Read more

Forget investment banking job cuts, fund managers are defiantly bullish on hiring: most are planning to add staff. The latest CBI-PwC financial services quarterly survey says a balance of 73% of fund management firms are looking to recruit over the next three months, a figure only slightly down from the 80% for the previous quarter when the sub-prime crisis was a mere dot on the horizon. Headhunters confirm hiring has a rosy... Read more

Scottish financial services seems set to keep up its headcount when all about them may be cutting back. Gordon Arthur, interim of CEO Scottish Financial Enterprise, tells us, "A lot of the strength of the Scottish employment market has been driven by financial services. I do not think there is likely to be an impact from current market conditions." The reasoning behind such optimism is that financial services jobs in Scotland are... Read more

Nasty things may have knocked a Newcastle-based mortgage bank, but that doesn't mean fund managers in Scotland are panicking about their bonuses. OK, Baillie Gifford has reportedly lost £250m through an ill-advised dalliance with Northern Rock shares – but the rest of Scotland's asset management community is said to be sanguine about pay. For instance, firms such as Aberdeen Asset Management, Resolution and Aegon have all enjoyed strong growth in the... Read more