The City is in the midst of a hiring spree as banks beef up their IT teams to prevent another London Whale, the boss of recruitment firm Harvey Nash said today.
Revenues generated from financial services were up 10% on a year earlier in the first half of 2013, chief executive Albert Ellis said. “The real growth areas are risk mitigation and compliance to control risks. Just when you think a trading loss or fraud can’t ever happen again, another one comes along. IT groups in banks are very focused on this at the moment,” Ellis said. Candidates are commanding around £80,000 salaries on average, he added.
Harvey Nash also reported shortages of developers specialising in mobile devices and tablets, resulting in a swing from permanent to contract staff as rates shoot up in London and the South East. Despite a “weak” economic backdrop during the first half of 2013, UK and Ireland revenues at the firm rose 9% to £112.2 million and profits rose 4%.
Across the wider group, a stronger US economy helped push revenues 13% ahead, but pre-tax profits fell 4% to £4.2 million.
