A dearth of skilled IT professionals, along with complacency around the need to train workers for recovery, could hit financial firms emerging from the recession, according to research from IT recruiter Parity.

The research shows 49% of financial organisations claim they aren’t worried about how they will re-skill and resource their IT teams, and a further 34% have not begun planning yet. But 39% predict that a lack of skilled people will affect their chances of success, and 48% have encountered problems when recruiting new staff in the past.

The research adds that 82% anticipate it will be difficult to find the right people, and 18% expect to settle for people with an incomplete skills set.

Alwyn Welch, chief executive at Parity, says: “The speed at which IT bosses can bring in the right people is absolutely critical in terms of how quickly their organisation emerges out of the recession. Companies have been quick to cut costs on key skills to deal with the downtown, but now they must react equally quickly to bring in the resources they need to support a return in demand for their products and services.”