Mar 2010:
Michael Page, the recruitment company says that business is picking up after its worst 12 months for 33 years. Banks have doubled their recruitment needs in London compared to this time last year, one of the City’s leading financial recruitment firms said yesterday, in the latest sign that the financial sector is emerging from the downturn.
Steve Ingham, chief executive of Michael Page, the professional services recruiter, said that mandates from banks have increased significantly in the past few months as institutions that cut payrolls severely in the wake of the financial crisis begin to rebuild their London operations.
Mr Ingham added that recruitment was picking up across the sector, from senior banking and trading jobs to back-office roles, and is now back to roughly two thirds of the hiring levels that existed before the crisis began.
He dismissed reports that the banks that have received taxpayer funding, such as Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds, were facing an exodus of their top employees to competitors that were not bailed out. His comments came as Michael Page announced an 85 per cent fall in full-year pre-tax profits to £21 million, from £140 million in 2008.
Headcount fell by almost 1,400 jobs last year to 3,549. Michael Page said that 2009 had been the most challenging year in its 33-year history, although its business began picking up in the final three months.
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