Skills Shortage returns to Financial Services

In the past three years we have seen the Credit Crunch lead to the collapse of the Banks and the Global recession. This had a tremendous effect on Financial Services jobs. Unfortunately for the world of Financial Services, this was combined with the Retail Distribution Review which has led to uncertainty about the way financial services will be distributed in the future, as there are question marks over parts of the IFA market.
Not surprisingly we have seen mergers in companies such as Clerical Medical and Scottish Widows due to the forced Government merger of HBOS and Lloyds Banking Group.  We also saw several of the North American companies exit the market, e.g. Sun Life Financial of Canada and The Hartford.
Naturally, there has been nervousness around recruitment as companies have sought to fill positions internally where possible, only going external when absolutely necessary.
Since the start of 2011, we have seen a significant increase in demand, particularly in specialist vacancies, to a point where there now seems to be a skills shortage in many important areas.
As forecast by many of our clients in one of last year’s newsletters, the distribution landscape is changing and demand has become more specialist.
In broad terms the product providers are split into two.
1.     Most of the major players now offer their own Platforms, WRAPS and SIPPs, embracing this market.
2.     Other more specialist companies are pursuing the niche product strategy, aiming to have leading products in certain areas with a market edge which enables them to compete across the market.
On the other side of the fence, we have seen predictions of a reduction in the IFA market varying between 15% and 40%.  RDR will leave the distributor market split between whole market independence and single/multi ties.
As the product providers seek to position themselves for major change, it is clear that many feel they do not currently have the skills required in their midst to pursue all their preferred  strategies.
Increasingly many people will find their current skill base is out of date.

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