The current turmoil in the world's financial markets — induced by the US housing market slump — which has lead to 87,000 job losses in the US financial services sector, has not yet had a major effect on recruitment within the UK financial services sector. However, some recruiters predict that a downturn is just round the corner.

Steve Forro, manager of finance at Indigo City, told Recruiter: "It's clear there is going to be a downturn," he said, "the market has been up for too long. A recession is around the corner."

When it does hit, he said, it could last for six or seven years. However, certain areas would be affected first. "In the US it's the mortgage companies that have gone belly up, and I assume it will happen here too," he said.

Georgina Otten, a consultant at NJF Search, a permanent finance and banking recruiter, told Recruiter that while the market usually slowed at this time of year, this year's slowdown had been excessive, though most areas had now picked up "to a degree".

However, she had seen more CVs from people who had lost their jobs in quantitative equity.

Oliver Bradley, a director at Hedgemedia Jobs, an alternative asset sector job board, told Recruiter: "We would need to have a pretty bad fall for this to have an effect in 2008."