Finance professionals move to Switzerland

Tue, 16 Dec 2008

With the UK financial sector continuing to be affected by the downturn, Switzerland has become an increasingly attractive destination for finance professionals, according to recruiters.

Susan McCulloch, a senior manager at specialist finance recruiter ASA Recruitment in Edinburgh, told Recruiter that more finance professionals were applying for jobs in Switzerland because the Swiss market was showing “quite a lot of buoyancy”.

She adds that more of the financial jobs are in public practice accountancy and industry, rather than banking. 

Bernadette Haslam, manager of specialist language recruiter Euro London Appointments, Zurich operation, says the Swiss market is buffered by a focus on major private banking, which “offers diversification away from the general investment banking focus in other cities”.

“It’s an attractive tax regime for both corporations and individuals, and a convenient central location in Europe. Swiss employment laws also give a greater degree of job security than is offered in other countries,” she adds.

The comments followed a survey of finance professionals by Euro London Appointments, which found that 54% of finance professionals would happily consider opportunities in Continental Europe.