Many UK Fund Firms Optimistic, Boosting Staffing Levels Says Poll

by Philip Morton, Investors Offshore.com

11 April 2002

According to recent reports, there is a mood of cautious optimism in the UK fund management industry at the moment, and many firms are looking to start recruiting again, following vicious staffing cuts over the last two years.

A Confederation of British Industry survey published this week has revealed that around 15% of fund firms in the City are planning to start recruiting again, compared with 68% who planned to cut jobs in December of last year.

As the technology bubble burst, and events such as the September 11 attacks caused investor confidence to plummet, funds under management and revenues fell for almost all fund management firms, forcing staffing level cuts, advertising and marketing freezes, and decreased investment in IT development.

'Confidence in the equity market dried up completely, that's why numbers were down last year,' Jim Patterson, Head of Private Banking at recruitment consultant Napier Scott Executive Search, explained to Reuters. 'Now, slowly but surely people are dipping their toes in the equity market again.'

However, for some, the emphasis is still on caution. Speaking to the news service earlier this week Simon Bell, Managing Principal of the asset management team at Alexander Mann, observed that:

'There is a mood of optimism based very much on the US economy at the moment. But I would be reluctant to say that most fund management companies are looking to increase their head count.'

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