30 SECOND GUIDE: CITY JOBS

By DAILY MAIL CITY & FINANCE

Updated: 06:22 EST, 7 September 2012

The Daily Mail City team explains the state of play in City employment.

Not more bankers!

Hardly. Since the financial crisis began in 2007 the number of people who work in London’s financial services industry has fallen by almost 100,000 to 255,000.

Have losses stabilised?

Most experts think there is more pain to come this year.

City am: Workers file across London bridge

Japanese bank Nomura plans its second £630m cost-cutting drive in less than 12 months. The bank says 45pc of these cuts will come in Europe, which looks set to further hit City jobs.

What’s behind this?

The closure and merger of a number of banks as the credit crunch took hold during the first wave of the crisis.

Since then the European debt crisis and the UK’s recession have also hurt employment levels. Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group and all manner of investment banks have cut jobs as fewer mergers and acquisitions and lower trading volumes hit revenues.

So are there vacancies?

The posts that are in demand mirror the waves of new regulation sweeping through the industry.

Banks want risk-control and compliance executives. There are more than a few M&A hotshots sitting in their garden sheds listening to the Archers.

Should we care?

These cuts in numbers mean a lowering of expertise, so London’s place as the world’s leading financial centre is weakened.