British financial meltdown has sparked massive layoffs among Canadians, Americans in London's once-gilded City

London-The good old days are over for Canadians working in the City, the fabled London district that once gave Britain the world's most powerful international financial sector.

Tens of thousands of Canadians and Americans have for years been drawn to London to take jobs in banking, many of them working for the gilt-edged British operations of U.S. investment giants. But the appeal of the expatriate careers has been tarnished by the meltdown of the British banking industry as the recession that started on Wall Street 18 months ago spread around the globe. Estimates of jobs lost in London's financial businesses between 2007 and March 2009 run as high as 130,000.

"Yeah, and I think half of them are in my inbox," joked employee recruiter Josh Wright. "Every day you open the paper, it's doom and gloom," said Wright, a 25-year-old from Waterloo, Ont. "It's a completely different market than two or three years ago."

The grim job situation reflects an epic reversal of fortunes in the City. Fed by cheap debt, a housing bubble and freewheeling markets, bankers racked up dizzying profits and bonuses as financial companies led a giddy run-up of wealth during Britain's 15 years of steady economic growth. But no one's looking for sky-high payouts now.

"The bonus this year is that you kept your job. If you're working, you're grateful," said a young Toronto MBA graduate who asked not to be named. He himself has been looking for a full-time position since being laid off by a large finance company in London nine months ago.

"It's been an uphill struggle to find work. It's pretty bleak out there. And it's getting worse. In the last two weeks, I had four friends who lost their jobs."

It's not just the unravelling of big-name financial houses like Bear Stearns, Merrill Lynch and Lehman Brothers that has drained jobs from the City. Dozens of other shell-shocked British operations – as well as companies from continental Europe, Canada and the United States – have reduced their presence in London to cut costs, observers say. And a new survey by the Confederation of British Industry predicted another 15,000 jobs will disappear by summer.

In the boom years, banks were in such need of personnel they would take on employees with a minimum of training or skills. But now financial institutions can have their pick of highly qualified job seekers.

"Some think the worst is behind us but that doesn't mean that there won't be additional layoffs," said Ryan McGaw, 33. Many Canadians and Americans working in banking in Britain are young and their plans are changing as the lure of the City fades, the former New Brunswicker said. "Some people are thinking of travelling for six months, and, especially in the expat community, some people are just thinking of going home. "I knew someone who always wanted to move to Australia. So after he got laid off, he did."

The urgency of the job search is compounded by the cost of living in London, one of the world's most expensive cities. On top of that, working in the City has lost some of its traditional cachet. One senior executive saw his house vandalized and protesters tried to break into a downtown bank branch recently as the backlash against the financial community peaked.

With many Britons accusing financiers of wrecking their economy in an orgy of greed and risk-taking, bankers here have been appealing for an end to the "public flogging" of their industry. Until 2007, banking had been the driving force behind Britain's growth. But Russell Jones of RBC Capital Markets says the sector's economic potential has been reduced by a third in only 12 months.

The lucrative merger mania of recent years is over and investors have been spooked, said Jones, RBC's global head of fixed income and currency research. Referring to the risky securities that played a key role in the international crisis, Jones said, "For some of the more esoteric products which developed over the last couple of decades, some of those markets have just ceased to exist and London was at the forefront of them.

So it's a sector of the economy which is under acute duress." Looking ahead, British leaders wonder if the City will some day resume its former stature or whether major centres such as New York or Frankfurt will erode London's pre-eminence as a global financial hub.

"The financial world has changed beyond recognition over the past couple of years," said Richard Lambert, director general of the Confederation of British Industry. "No one knows quite how this story is going to end. But one thing we can be sure of: We are not going back any time soon to those balmy days of yesterday that ended with such a loud bang in the summer of 2007.

"Still, while the jobs picture may not be the same for expatriates after the slump, it will continue to have a strong appeal, said Wright, the financial services headhunter. "London's not going to die as a competitive city," he said. "It may take a while but it will come back."

I have worked in temporary recruitment for over ten years and still today I hear horror stories about recruitment consultancies not passing on to their temporary staff their full holiday entitlement? Why does this still happen? Are recruiters still scamming their candidates, unfortunately this does appear to be the case which is really bizarre as recruiters would never dream of trying "to hide or steel" anyone's National Insurance contribution or perhaps more relevantly trying not to pay their own consultants holiday pay. Under recent changes in legislation all temporary workers are now entitled to 28 days holiday and your agency should set the money aside until you are ready to take that holiday...it doesn't cost anyone anything its your money and has already been accounted for and paid for by the client you are working for.  

SO TAKE YOUR HOLIDAY AND ENJOY YOUR CASH! DON'T STAND FOR ANY EXCUSES AND DON'T ACCEPT THAT ITS "INCLUDED IN YOUR RATE" OR ANY OF THE OTHER VAGUE EXCUSES AGENCIES COME OUT WITH  

QATAR will overtake sluggish European funds to become the largest real estate investor in the world this year, according to a report by property consultancy Jones Lang LaSalle out yesterday.The country has emerged as a global powerhouse in property, and will become the top source of overseas capital in 2010, says the report.“Cash-rich and with a strong appetite for splashy overseas assets, Qatari vehicles have lately outshined their counterparts from the region and are projected to carry on with their rapid expansion across the real estate world” the report said.Qatar Holding, the investment arm of the Qatari state, bought Harrods last month for £1.5bn and owns a large stake in Canary Wharf property firm Songbird. The report predicts high profile purchases across Latin America, Eastern Europe and Asia.

The International Monetary Fund expects the Qatari economy to expand by 18.5 per cent this year, on the back of increased gas and oil exports. It has enjoyed average economic growth of 17.4 per cent over the last five years.Qatar’s prominence in the property market is aided by a slowdown in real estate activity from German funds, which were among the largest global investors in 2009.“Qatar is the epitome of energy-rich Gulf nations, with a large appetite for real estate,” the report said.

Accountancy Graduates on the Increase

Figures recently released by the Big Four reveal an unprecedented level of interest from graduates and school leavers this year.

Over the last five years, despite the global economic crisis, the number of applications for graduate roles at PwC, for instance, has more than tripled from around 7,000 to over 22,000. Although the number of graduate places offered by the firm has increased by around 17% during this time period, there are still only 1100 available, so competition is intense.

Gaenor Bagley, Head of People at PwC, has stated that the industry needs a solid pipeline of talent to attain the growth rates expected for the sector - she is confident that PwC's investment through the downturn has paid off and will positively impact the firm's growth plan.

PwC's chairman, Ian Powell, has spoken to the Telegraph on the subject and described the tricky situation of having to interview nearly 7,000 candidates. The sheer number will mean that a lot of people have to be eliminated on paper. So Powell is fearful of losing some diversity of background and experience from those joining the firm.

Deloitte has responded to the overall increase in demand by offering one of the largest numbers of places for graduates it now totals 1200, which is almost 10% up on 2011.

KPMG has also benefited from the surge in graduate interest - the firm has received 21,000 applications for its graduate scheme, which offers 650 spaces. This figure is up significantly from 18,500 last year. At the same time, prospective candidates for its school-leaver programme increased from 1200 last year to 1900   for only 150 positions.

Ernst & Young is in a similar situation with its school-leaver training scheme   the firm is almost doubling the number of places available on the scheme from 80 to 150 due to increased demand, with applications up 25% on last year. Additionally, graduate job applications at the firm are up an incredible 140%, making the chances of securing a place slimmer than ever before.

Stephen Isherwood, the head of graduate recruitment, said the firm had received four applications for every place on the graduate trainee scheme - so students should get organised and start applying if they want to get their dream job secured after university. He added that the firm's applications were opened three months earlier than two years ago and places were already starting to fill up.

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Following the last few years of economic uncertainty, all eyes have been on the financial markets to do well and so far this summer the markets are indeed looking good. And despite the initial backlash caused by Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke's decision to begin scaling back asset purchases from September this year, the short-term prospects are looking better and any panic seems to be subsiding.

It seems that this summer's numbers have shown that share prices have been at a significant high compared to the last few years and it seems as though they might well stay at these levels. This appears to be good news for a number of different sectors and, of course, the future job market.

The bond market in particular appears to be doing well once again, having grown slowly over the last year. With an even stronger bond market predicted both in Europe and the US for 2014, this is good news for everyone. With people's interest in bonds growing each month, the prices of the bonds themselves are expected to slowly lower, which in turn will make them more attractive for investors at all levels.

The positive financial news is being seen throughout many countries around the world, with the US seeing a vast improvement in its economy over the last year. It is still early days, of course, but the upturn is slowly gathering pace, driven mainly by a stronger housing market and a slowly recovering labour market. In Europe the signs are good too and as 2013 continues the eurozone economy is stabilising. Predictions for the future are that we could see even more positive growth from as early as the second half of 2013.

Boosted by the growing confidence in the economies of its trading partners, it seems the UK's economy is also starting to strengthen. Though the recovery is likely to be a slow one, recent surveys of British business owners and managers show that there is rising confidence about the future, which is good news for the previously precarious job market. With this renewed confidence in a stronger economy, more investment is already going into attracting the right staff for companies and creating new jobs and opportunities across the country. Although this recovery may indeed be a slow one, the news that it is happening is very welcome and can only mean good things to come for recruitment in the UK.

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One fascinating aspect of the tech industry is the direction of start-up founders who have already generated vast fortunes at a young age. What do they do next? Simply, they keep working.

Research suggests that these tech superstars are driven to achieve more, and they are often driven by far more than simple money. This phenomenon is shown in the film The Social Network, in which Facebook backer and Napster founder, Sean Parker (played by Justin Timberlake), announces that a million dollars isn't anything special ? what's really cool is a billion.

Mark Zuckerberg, the Facebook founder, is a prime example. Already a billionaire, he came to Silicon Valley to change the world with his coding skills and grand visions of an online social platform. Similar stories are told of Sergey Brin and Larry Page, the founders of Google, and it will no doubt happen to Twitter's founders.

The tech billionaires' decision to keep working after their stock-market windfalls is actually not too different from financiers and investment bankers  who also tend to simply keep working in a bid to continue their success. And yet their successes are flaunted in conspicuous ways, from sports cars and custom-made suits to lavish holidays and expensive markers of wealth. For Silicon Valley's millionaires, the flaunting of wealth is far more uncommon. As often as not, they are using their money to create new technologies or to invest in the next entrepreneur's start-up idea.

One of Google's multi-millionaires, Scott Hassan, explains this trend perfectly when he says that a person can only buy 'so many shiny things'. He says that Silicon Valley's start-up founders are often engineers and never lose their desire to keep building something new, even if they have already earned enough to retire in luxury.

Many of the newly wealthy went back to work to start up new companies. Hassan himself set up a robotics incubator for engineers who specialise in the field of telepresence robotics. He explained that he was passionate about building a new company that could affect the world. Start-up founders are driven by that need to keep building new things, often from nothing at all. This is often a different kind of person than a successful investment banker.

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Analysts have expressed concern and confusion about the new Help to Buy scheme

The Northern Irish and Scottish governments don't charge interest on these equity shares. In England a 1.75pc charge is applied after five years, growing with inflation annually afterwards.

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Pawnbrokers Albemarle & Bond Appoint Business Transformation Expert

Ailing pawnbrokers Albemarle & Bond have appointed Colin Whip business transformation expert, to turn around their fortunes and get the business back on track. Whip is a Fellow of the Institute for Turnaround and joins as Chief Restructuring Officer following various positions with household names that include Procter & Gamble and Scholl.

At the same time, the business has appointed a new CEO, Chris Gillespie. Both will get to work immediately to reassure lenders and shareholders alike that they can turn around the struggling business. In a further change, Greville Nicholls reverts to his previous role in the business of non-executive chairman.

Dropping gold prices and rising competition have left the business adrift and needing to extend debts, having failed to secure additional finance to avoid breaches of covenants if a solution is not found by the end of this month. The share price plummeted to 36p from a 52-week high of 266p, although it is showing small signs of recovery in the light of Whip and Gillespie's appointments ? it has risen back to 45p.

From its lowly origins as a single shop 30 years ago in Bristol, Albemarle & Bond has grown and now has more than 140 stores nationwide. Now a major UK pawnbroker and buyer of gold and second-hand jewellery, they were at risk if gold prices fluctuated much, and indeed the shine has come off the business. This is despite the current economic climate and the business having diversified into offering cheque-cashing and short-term loans. The high-risk strategy of opening 25 new stores last year coincided with the gold price peaking, and with the current focus on pay-day loans and potential new legislation there are difficulties ahead.

Whip has an Impressive Record in Business Transformation

The two appointments mark the start of a new chapter for the firm. Whip has an impressive track record in delivering financial change in consumer-facing businesses. His experience covers both the public and private sectors, in both commercial and financial roles.

Gillespie's background is built on solid financial-services experience with companies such as Barclays, Bradford & Bingley and Provident Financial.

Whip will be looking to get going straightaway. As a Fellow of the Institute of Turnaround, no doubt he will be looking to personify the institute's goal of professionalising the business transformation. Appointing someone with his evident expertise should prove to be a shrewd move for Albemarle & Bond, particularly if he can create a turnaround that proves to be socially useful, as members of the IFT should.

Written by David Archer of Circle Square - Investment Banking Recruitment 

Related posts: Banking Industry Transformation Looks Likely    Finance Sector puts Reputation First

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Chief of IMF Voices Concerns over US Default Causing Recession

World Bank News

Jim Yong Kim, the president of the World Bank, has also issued warnings about the potential consequences of the situation and the threat of recession. He has expressed his concern that the US is only a few days away from a potentially very damaging situation.

The bank's president was eager for the policy makers in the US to reach some kind of agreement over the debt ceiling before the deadline warning, that a failure to do so could be a 'disastrous event' and cause global recession.

He expressed his concern over a potential drop in growth and confidence and a rise in interest rates, and he had particular worries about the developing world. 

International finance ministers don't believe that the US will default, but there is a general uneasiness about the potential impact of the crisis and the looming threat of recession.

After the White House rejected a deal for a short-term increase to the borrowing limit, it is now a race to reach an agreement. The partial shutdown of the US government has been in place since they failed to pass a budget and has meant thousands of federal employees have been sent home.

The shutdown could be costing the government dearly, with an estimate from the US Treasury Secretary suggesting that it could be shaving 0.25% off economic growth with every week it continues.

Written by David Archer of Circle Square - Financial Jobs London / Accountancy Jobs London

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If the move towards shared services had a higher profile then the unions would protest, the media would criticise and the academics would find flaws. The sea of change around the way large organisations are now structuring themselves and outsourcing key services such as HR, IT, procurement and finance is happening very discreetly. Part of the reason why the change has been fairly gradual is because it's taken big organisations a long time to wake up to the advantages.

Shared Services a Cost Saving Solution

The Benefits of Shared Services Have Been Understated

A Common Perception is that Shared Services are Bad 

Despite this research has found little wrong with the shared services because it combines market principles with in-house control. Service providers can act in a dynamic and entrepreneurial way but are still accountable to the host organisation in the knowledge that if they get it wrong, they could lose the contract.

Shared-service agreements have generally been set up over time and their effect has also been gradual. However, they are changing the way companies operate, improving processes and enabling more communication between different areas of the business to ensure the organisation is far more joined up. It also enables companies to concentrate on their core business.

The Government is Encouraging Outsourcing to the Private Sector

Such is the effect of shared services that the government is now urging public bodies to go down this route by outsourcing to the private sector. It is encouraging hospitals, police forces and schools to set up shared-service arrangements. Whether they too can manage to outsource their recruitment or finance departments quite so quietly is another question.

Written by Victoria Campbell of Circle Square - Finance Jobs London / Accountancy Jobs London

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