eFinancialCareers

It’s a scenario all too familiar. A Scottish fund manager is looking to increase its headcount and, as it’s a global marketplace, has put feelers out to other major financial centres for talent. When asked the question why, say, the UK’s premier fund managers might want to move north of the border from the behemoth that is the City of London, the answer is nearly always the same: “Well, the... Read more

With the number of firms falling by the wayside in Scotland only likely to increase, accountants specialising in insolvencies are beefing up teams to deal with the expected influx of business. As more companies collapse, this means more work for insolvency experts and, though the tidal wave has yet to hit, accountancy firms are gearing up for it. KPMG in Glasgow says it has plans to increase headcount in this sector by... Read more

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

It’s a scenario all too familiar. A Scottish fund manager is looking to increase its headcount and, as it’s a global marketplace, has put feelers out to other major financial centres for talent. When asked the question why, say, the UK’s premier fund managers might want to move north of the border from the behemoth that is the City of London, the answer is nearly always the same: “Well, the... 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

As Scotland bids for independence from the rest of the UK, there’s the suggestion that its financial services sector could lose out. Global Financial Services Week (GFSW) looks to highlight Scotland’s importance as a financial centre, and the cabinet secretary for finance, John Swinney, took the opportunity to attempt to assuage fears that an independent Scotland could undermine the industry. He said: “We would have to take decisions about the way in... Read more

With the number of firms falling by the wayside in Scotland only likely to increase, accountants specialising in insolvencies are beefing up teams to deal with the expected influx of business. As more companies collapse, this means more work for insolvency experts and, though the tidal wave has yet to hit, accountancy firms are gearing up for it. KPMG in Glasgow says it has plans to increase headcount in this sector by... Read more

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