Heavy staff cuts are forcing investment banks to put talent at the top of the corporate agenda, HR executives at UBS and Nomura told a recent SHL roundtable event.

“Our leadership recognises we have work to do to engage our talent and stabilise” UBS’s remaining workforce, said Maria Bentley, global head of HR.

The issue of talent mobility, referring to both skills and geography, is “something that’s come to prominence” in the fallout, said Christian Hobson, head of learning/development, Nomura. Staff must be empowered to develop their own careers through exercising mobility, he added.