Stephen Pearce, a director of KennedyPearce Consulting, told Recruiter that the firm was probably placing double the number of financial sector candidates than a year ago.

“The market is booming at the moment and the biggest challenge is finding candidates,” says Kennedy.

He explained that one reason was because most of the banks scaled back their teams significantly during the credit crunch and recession, and now needed to recruit. One of the biggest recruiters is probably RBS, says Kennedy.

His comments are backed up by eFinancialCareers.com’s latest financial Barometer.

In the year to the end of October, all but one of the 22 sectors spanning the UK financial services industry saw vacancies increase by at least 23%.

Banks are turning to recruitment agencies to fill senior positions in London because “this is the only way to secure the right talent”, Kennedy adds.

According to eFinancialCareers’ Barometer, the two largest year-on-year gains for October were in capital markets and asset management, where positions available broadly doubled. While in the quarter ending 30 October, capital markets, investment banking/M&A, consultancy, sales and marketing, and information technology, all strengthened by 20% or more.

James Bennett, managing director EMEA and APAC at eFinancialCareers.com, says: “The signals from the sector are that the hiring activity will continue in 2011. This will be driven by the combination of financial organisations having to rebuild their teams as their revenue levels grow, and the need for firms to expand their IT and back office functions as regulatory requirements increase.”