30,000 jobs to be culled from financial services industry

30,000 jobs to be culled from financial services industry




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As trading conditions are branded “exceptionally tough”, it has emerged that jobs in the financial services industry are being lost at the fastest rate in sixteen years. 

According to a survey from employers’ group CBI and PricewaterhouseCoopers, 15,000 financial workers were shed between January and March whilst another 15,000 posts are set to be cut in the next quarter of 2009.

 

The losses have arisen from the dramatic effects of the credit crunch on financial firms, with the slump in the housing market exacerbating the loss of confidence and lack of business activity in the sector. 

 

Only 9% of firms taking part in the survey reported business volumes rising in the first three months of this year. 56% of firms said volumes had dropped.

 

34% of firms stated that they were less positive about the overall business situation in the financial services sector than they had been in the final months of last year.

 

The CBI’s chief economic adviser, Ian McCafferty, commented: “Conditions remain exceptionally tough in the financial services sector. Sharp drops in revenues and profitability are causing continued suffering, while business volumes remain very weak. Firms are making heavy cuts to staff numbers and investment plans to make savings and reflect weak demand.”

 

Over 40,000 jobs were cut last year in the financial services industry, as businesses struggled to deal with the unstable economic landscape and sharpest fall in profits since the CBI began its quarterly financial services survey 20 years ago.

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