Financial Institutions within London recruit at record levels

•    Financial Institutions in London are on track to see vacancies 33% up on 2021
•   The total number of jobs within Banking increased by 47%
    in H1 2022 versus the same period in 2021.
•   However, there has been a noticeable dip in June of 16% compared to May
•   For the Accountancy Firms, 2022 activity is more muted, up 6% on last year

London is maintaining its place as a global financial centre, growing in spite of the external pressures happening, between post Brexit challenges and the war in Ukraine according to a new report by Morgan Mckinley and Vacancysoft.

As of July 1st, 2022, there were 27,827 vacancies across the financial institutions in London, where if this activity continues to the end of the year, this would mean an uplift of 33% on 2021.

“London’s corporate ‘bubble’ continues to prosper, seemingly unphased by what is happening elsewhere in the world,” said Hakan Enver, Managing Director of Morgan McKinley.

“Covid-19 restrictions have eased completely, bringing thousands more workers back to the office, stronger financial markets, job volumes at their highest for several years and confidence coming from global firms showing their commitment to the UK.

“A large part of this is down to London confirming its position as a leading financial services and tech centre across Europe and the world.”

Accounting sector insights
Delving into the London accounting sector, the lowest recorded month for vacancies was June 2022; down by 15.9% month-on-month with 960 vacancies – the lowest since April 2020. If volumes remain at this level in H2, the annual total for the sector will actually be smaller in terms of new vacancies compared to 2021.

Looking at skills in demand within the Accountancy sector, there has been a surge in vacancies for IT Professionals, with volumes up 32% when comparing monthly averages between this year and last. In contrast, vacancies for qualified Accountants have actually dropped, down 19%. The biggest increase though has been for Marketing, with H1 2022 up 46% on last year’s monthly average.

Banking sector breakdown
The banking sector in London has now hit record levels of recruitment. With vacancies up 47% on 2021, the real question is how long this continues for. With that, in June we had seen a small dip in activity. The question is if this then continues.

In terms of skills in demand, the uplift in recruitment has been even across all main professional areas. Front and middle office vacancies are up 48%, there has been an increase of 47% when looking at IT, similarly marketing is up 45%.

Top firms
Within the top 20 financial firms hiring in London, the banking sector leads the way with 13 of those firms in total. Sitting at the top in terms of total vacancies is JP Morgan with 1,798 vacancies YTD 2022, estimated to reach 3,596 by the end of the year. Citi sits in second place with 1,721 vacancies YTD 2022 with an estimated 3,442 by year end.

Top 5 Financial Institutions for Professional Vacancies, London, 2021-22

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