business correspondent,London(wp/es):
A hiring slump at investment banks slowed UK recruitment activity at search firm Robert Walters in the final quarter, highlighting the ongoing shake-up of the banks as they try to reverse a slide in profits.
The recruiter, which makes a third of its fees in the UK, said a drop off in bank recruitment between the start of September and December 31 led to lower UK net fee income growth of 5% to £19.9 million from £19 million.
UK growth was 27% for the same period last year.
“We’ve been in this business for 30 years and every so often banks will hire and fire,” said chief executive Robert Walters, who founded the search firm.
“There’s always a mixed bag when you have a broad, diverse business and they are realigning what they want to be. That inevitably leads to redundancies and affects hiring trends.”
He added there was a “degree of pause” in hiring but expected it to get back to normal by 2017.
The bonfire of the bankers comes at a sensitive time for rainmakers ahead of this year’s bonus season, which coincides with annual results from lenders over the next few weeks.
Big European banks like Deutsche Bank, Barclays and Credit Suisse have laid off staff and stopped hiring in a bid to reshape their institutions in recent months to focus on more profitable areas.
Despite the problems, FTSE 250-listed Robert Walters reported a 10% rise in group net fee income for the period to £59.1 million on a constant currency basis.
Europe was the stand-out market – led by stronger productivity in France — with quarterly net fee income up 17% to £12.4 million. Asia Pacific was also up 11% to £24.3 million.
Walters said there were some brighter spots in financial services sector despite the bank problems.
“Insurance has been quite strong and we’ve seen decent trading in overall financial services over the past 12 months.
“We do normally have a quieter season in the fourth quarter and it has been exacerbated by what’s coming out of China,” he added.
A hiring slump at investment banks slowed UK recruitment activity at search firm Robert Walters in the final quarter, highlighting the ongoing shake-up of the banks as they try to reverse a slide in profits.
The recruiter, which makes a third of its fees in the UK, said a drop off in bank recruitment between the start of September and December 31 led to lower UK net fee income growth of 5% to £19.9 million from £19 million.
UK growth was 27% for the same period last year.
“We’ve been in this business for 30 years and every so often banks will hire and fire,” said chief executive Robert Walters, who founded the search firm.
“There’s always a mixed bag when you have a broad, diverse business and they are realigning what they want to be. That inevitably leads to redundancies and affects hiring trends.”
He added there was a “degree of pause” in hiring but expected it to get back to normal by 2017.
The bonfire of the bankers comes at a sensitive time for rainmakers ahead of this year’s bonus season, which coincides with annual results from lenders over the next few weeks.
Big European banks like Deutsche Bank, Barclays and Credit Suisse have laid off staff and stopped hiring in a bid to reshape their institutions in recent months to focus on more profitable areas.
Despite the problems, FTSE 250-listed Robert Walters reported a 10% rise in group net fee income for the period to £59.1 million on a constant currency basis.
Europe was the stand-out market – led by stronger productivity in France — with quarterly net fee income up 17% to £12.4 million. Asia Pacific was also up 11% to £24.3 million.
Walters said there were some brighter spots in financial services sector despite the bank problems.
“Insurance has been quite strong and we’ve seen decent trading in overall financial services over the past 12 months.
“We do normally have a quieter season in the fourth quarter and it has been exacerbated by what’s coming out of China,” he added.
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