Financial Services: skills shortage despite record-high recruitment

By Puja Sharma

Financial services jobs continue to rise, but skills shortages plague employers’ ability to find talent.

Recruitment within the financial services sector in England and Wales reached record highs in 2021, with nearly 80,000 vacancies posted and continued growth expected for the remainder of the year. That’s according to new research from the Association of Professional Staffing Companies (APSCo), the trade association for the recruitment sector.

IT professionals dominate the hiring landscape within financial services, accounting for 33% of all vacancies with over 26,400 published this year so far. This is in keeping with the widely documented IT skills shortages which are hampering employers’ ability to source talent. Banking specialists are the second most sought after, seeing a 96.9% increase over the last year, while vacancies for consultants are the fastest-growing, with current volumes exceeding last year’s totals by 30%.

The data, provided by business intelligence specialist Vacancysoft, reveals that London holds the majority of vacancies in the financial services arena, accounting for 57.5% of all job listings, with a record-breaking 5,160 published in October alone. However, the South East is experiencing faster growth, showing an increase of 0.8 percentage points, causing London’s share of vacancies to fall by 1.6 percentage points. Meanwhile, the West Midlands experienced the slowest growth with the region’s share of vacancies falling by 0.9 percentage points.

Elsewhere, JPMorgan Chase is the busiest recruiter within the sector, publishing over 3,700 jobs to date resulting in a 101% year-on-year increase, which could be part of its commitment to making a full global recovery in 2022. NatWest experienced the fastest growth, with hiring levels up 272.3% when compared to 2020 data.

“The rise in vacancies for the financial sector is a promising end to another challenging year and has certainly set the sector up for a strong start in 2022. However, it is no secret that we are dealing with a sector-wide skills shortage with Covid, the Great Resignation, and Brexit exacerbating this issue. If employers hope to fill these vacancies, then the UK’s ongoing skills shortage must be addressed,” Ann Swain, CEO of APSCo said.

Investment banking, private equity and venture capital, asset management, institutional equities, and private banking are beefing up their teams on the back of a buoyant capital market, the rush of IPOs, and an all-time high deal-making cycle, as per the report.

Future growth

The financial services industry’s sectors are key indicators that provide insight into overall economic strength or weakness.

As per the report, Financial management industry employment is expected to grow by 15% between 2019 and 2029 — much faster than the labor market as a whole — due to the increasing demand for financial, cash, and risk management services, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). As the economy grows, skilled professionals who can plan, direct, and coordinate investments will be increasingly in demand.

Moreover, as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak, corporations are working toward recovering and reorganizing their operations. A Business Research Company report estimates this will cause market growth of $2.1 trillion between the end of 2020 and the end of 2021. Similarly, as corporations earn more, experts in cash management will be in need.