Bank moves hit city jobs growth

The number of job vacancies in London’s finance sector has halved over the past two years because Brexit has knocked business confidence and prompted relocations to new European hubs in the EU27, according to a new report.

Bank moves hit city jobs growth2
Global recruiter Morgan McKinley's latest City jobs monitor found that there had not only been a 50 per cent decline in vacancies, but also in the number of job-seekers, although the former rose by nine per cent, quarter-on-quarter, in the first three months of 2019.

Brexit uncertainty

Hakan Enver, managing director of Morgan McKinley financial services, said: “The inability of the government to reach consensus on a Brexit deal has crushed confidence among City employers. Even with all the uncertainty of the last few years, there was always an assumption that come March 29, we would have some answers. Yet here we are, still waiting.“With the Brexit deadline having been extended until October 31, the stress on businesses is showing no sign of letting up. The government had over two years to do its homework and complete the assignment. Right before the deadline, they finally decide to try to work with the opposition to protect the people, instead of their own political power.“They didn’t do the homework, they didn’t complete the assignment and now they’re asking for one extension after the other as jobs continue to flow out of London, with Dublin being by far the biggest beneficiary, followed by Luxembourg, Paris, Frankfurt, and Amsterdam. It’s astonishing.

Small firms hit hardest

“For the bigger banks, March 29 was the deadline – there are no extensions. They have rolled out their Brexit plans and are deftly deploying staff and other resources to key EU locations. It’s the smaller firms that are now being hit hardest, as they have fewer resources with which to plan and adapt.”The report found that the number of available roles decreased from 24,105 in the first quarter of 2017 to 11,009 this year. Meanwhile, the number of professionals seeking jobs is now less than half the 32,389 recorded in Q1 2017.

Technology sector growth slowed

While the report said the UK's technology sector remained the envy of Europe, earning £2.5 billion in new investments last year, according to a recent analysis by London & Partners and PitchBook, it noted that the rate of growth had slowed.“Financial services and technology jobs were the crown jewels of the UK economy, attracting the best and the brightest to the UK, yet financial services are struggling to recruit top technology talent in the wake of Brexit," said Mr Enver.

London still top for CX opportunities

However, London has emerged as the top city globally for senior customer experience (CX) job opportunities, according to research by global reviews and customer insights technology company Feefo.Based on an analysis of more than 120,000 job listings in 10 nations, the research found that London had five times more senior CX job opportunities than the average for the rest of the world.The five cities currently advertising the most CX jobs are:London: 2,668
Seattle: 2,555
New York: 2,344
Toronto: 694
Sydney: 388 
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