Compliance, control and risk professionals are increasingly in demand in the City due to fears around increasingly aggressive fines from the Financial Services Authority (FSA), according to Mark Cameron, chief operating officer at financial services staffing specialist Astbury Marsden.

Data from Astbury Marsden shows 14% of all new jobs created in the City last month were in compliance, control and risk. The FSA meted out a record £33.1m in fines last year (to 31 March 2010), up 21% on the previous year’s record-breaking £27.3m.

Cameron says: “We are being told by clients that a lot of these new jobs are being created because the FSA is still taking such an aggressive line on fining organisations that they perceive have gaps in their systems and controls.

“Compliance and risk has been a hot sector for two years and new jobs keep being created by each new regulatory initiative. The whole field is getting more heated with Basle III and Solvency II work starting in real earnest.”