eFinancialCareers

The investment operations space in Scotland has switched from recruitment frenzy to something of a hiring hiatus over the last year or so. Now, however, it's showing some signs of life again.The oft quoted fact that BNP Paribas is recruiting 80 people for its Glasgow operation is no secret, but Alan Thornburrow, chief executive of Scottish Investment Operations, tells us that both State Street and Morgan Stanley have again opened... Read more

Lloyds Banking Group has announced yet another round of redundancies today – with over 2,100 facing the axe. Scotland has taken a big hit, with 350 jobs expected to go north of the border.This takes the total cull by Lloyds since the takeover of HBOS and subsequent government bailout to 7,500. The latest cuts are to affect the group and wholesale operations divisions, as it brings together "a number of... Read more

With corporations struggling more than ever to find funding in Scotland, PricewaterhouseCoopers is creating a new debt advisory team to cash in on this. If more of the Big Four firms do the same, this could offer more employer prospects to out-of-work corporate bankers north of the border. PwC's new debt advisory team has been recruited to tackle the Scottish market, where gridlocked credit markets are particularly acute, according to... Read more

New proposals to hand more powers to Holyrood over income tax could see the top level in Scotland move higher than the rest of the UK. This may have implications for attracting and retaining top talent north of the border – particularly in the high earning fund management sector. The Calman Commission, set up to examine how to strengthen state powers under devolution, has recommended that the UK government should cut... Read more

HSBC is looking to capitalise on the fall out from Scotland's two largest banks by expanding its corporate banking presence north of the border. HBOS/Lloyds is cutting around 300 corporate banking posts in Scotland and RBS has reported bad debts in this division, which means it's likely to either hold off hiring or include this sector in its swingeing redundancy announcements. However, HSBC – which yesterday appointed a new chief executive John... Read more

To assuage any lingering doubts that investment banking is a young person’s game best suited to competitive people with very high stamina, Deutsche Bank has appointed an former ironman triathlete and Scottish youth rugby international as its UK chief executive. Colin Grassie isn’t the only sporting icon in banking. Financial News points out that the industry is also home to several rugby players, including Simon Halliday, former England wing, now... Read more

For all the pomp surrounding the raft of employment opportunities within Scotland's insurance industry, it's not exactly exhibiting signs of buoyancy. One firm is scaling back its expansion plans, another has made fairly deep cuts and salaries have largely remained frozen. With the turmoil surrounding Scotland's banking sector, both Scottish Financial Enterprise and the recent annual report by the Financial Services Advisory Board have been quick to point to the resilience... Read more

Good news for the legions of corporate bankers coming out of Scotland's banks – Tesco Personal Finance, just about the only financial firm seemingly embarking on a recruitment drive at the moment, is planning on expanding into this area. Sadly, new jobs don't look imminent. TPF officially relocated to its new office in Edinburgh's Haymarket yesterday, presenting a rare photo opportunity for first minister Alex Salmond, who spoke of the "tremendous... Read more

Before you start using the term 'green shoots' in relation to Scotland's financial sector, it's worth noting we’re probably only around a third of the way through redundancy announcements. So, where are the cuts likely to fall and are there any reasons for optimism? The job cuts so far in Scotland’s financial services sector are just “the tip of the iceberg” according to the latest Ernst&Young Scottish Item Club report into... Read more

Wealth management continues to fly in the face of the pessimism surrounding financial services in Scotland, and is providing a steady stream of recruitment as firms vie for a bigger piece of the market. Kleinwort Benson, the private banking arm of Dresdner Kleinwort which is now owned by Commerzbank, is the latest firm to expand north of the border. It recruited Gordon Scott from Standard Life to head its... Read more

Citigroup is about to shift 10% of its investment operations roles in Edinburgh to its 'centre of excellence' in Poland. Should back office workers in Scotland therefore be on red alert? Over the past few years, Scotland has developed a reputation as a low-cost centre for back office work with a large concentration of investment operation expertise. But Citigroup's plan to move 40 of its 400 jobs in the Scottish... Read more

With more and more people pursuing fewer and fewer jobs, recruiters say some candidates are exhibiting strange and unusual behaviours in an attempt to catch their attention. These apparently include: - Sending in their CV for every single job going: “These are the serial appliers,” says Recruiter A. “They apply for everything we advertise across every function.” - Repeatedly sending in their CV for the same job: “If someone sees an advert they like,... Read more

Adding to the woes of beleaguered Scottish bank HBOS is a sex discrimination case that could cost it £16m. However, according to employment lawyers, the whole thing could have been avoided. Mona Awad, a Muslim corporate bank manager at the bank, is currently claiming £16m in damages against HBOS for what she describes as a “sexist culture” that was “endemic” within her department. Obviously, sexual discrimination cases within financial services... Read more

In spite of the financial crisis, the appetite for Scotland’s pipeline of actuarial graduates remains strong. Scotland’s Heriot Watt University has established a reputation for producing some of the UK’s best-paid actuaries, through its actuarial mathematics and statistics degree. Andrea Sneddon, teaching fellow on the actuarial mathematics and statistics course at the university, says: “Employers are telling us they’re not cutting back on their recruitment of graduates, certainly... Read more

Given that Scotland’s two largest banks are part-nationalised, it’s not surprising that the discussions regarding the future of jobs north of the border are the subject of a political barney. One of the clauses in the initial takeover document relating to Lloyds TSB's ingestion of HBOS was that the focus would be on retaining Scottish jobs and Scottish decision-making. With redundancies estimated at anything between 14,000 and 40,000, there’s reason... Read more

A clear favourite has emerged as the next chairman of Royal Bank of Scotland in the form of John McFarlane, who currently sits on the bank’s board as non-executive director. However, a political battle has begun to take shape and other candidates are emerging from the woodwork. The appointment of McFarlane, a Scot who was previously chief exec of Australia and New Zealand banking group ANZ, would ease the sensitivities... 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