Despite the recent market volatilty, the UK is running out of home-grown talent to fill positions in the financial services sector, as London’s top financial, insurance and accountancy firms widen their nets in search of the best talent to ride out any potential storm.

With more jobs than candidates in the financial services sector, a growing number of firms are pushing their recruitment overseas.
Figures from the British government show that 33% of total approved applicants for the Highly Skilled Migrant Programme were in the finance and business categories. In August, 19,800 new financial services jobs came onto the market in the City of London alone, an increase of 2.3% compared to August 2006 (19,350). At the same time, the ratio of applicants to financial services jobs has been decreasing. The number of applicants for every role was down to 0.62 in August 2007 from 0.87 a year earlier.

London is increasingly reliant on South African financial talent. There are now more than 1.4 million South Africans living in the UK and pay in London is at least 60% higher than in Johannesburg in many financial services roles, making London a favourite with South African professionals.

Nabila Sadiq, managing director of Joslin Rowe Temporaries, says: “Despite the recent global credit crunch there is still a massive shortage of skilled financiers in London. South African professionals are highly sought after in the UK on account of their education, training, work ethic and background in an English-speaking business culture similar to that of the UK’s. The scale of the demand is staggering: it is quite common for a professional South African to have a new job in London within 24 hours of touching down at Heathrow. Clients who could rely on domestic candidates a year ago are now creating global pipelines to access the best international recruits. For example, in October Joslin Rowe is representing a number of London financial services firms at week long recruitment roadshows across South Africa.”