As banks report rise in job losses – ‘new blood’ is needed in the financial services industry
Royal Bank of Scotland announced at the end of last week that it was to slash at least 30,000 jobs, leaving the banking giant with the lowest staff numbers in over a decade.
RBS are not alone. Earlier this month Barclays also announced 12,000 proposed job cuts, 800 of which could include senior bankers, following a fall in gross profits to £191 million at the end of 2013, compared to £1.4 billion a year before.
In January, Lloyds Bank revealed over 1,000 employees would be made redundant, with another 300 roles outsourced to an external firm.
As more and more banks and advisory firms are leaving the financial industry, primarily, as I’ve said before, due to the introduction of the Retail Distribution Review (RDR), we’ve seen a trend of independent financial advisers seeking out new career opportunities.
Although the main objective of RDR is to increase transparency and reduce the risk of mis-selling in the industry, many banks and financial institutions are finding the stringent rules and regulations too much of a burden. This has led to the subsequent fall in the number of independent financial advisers. There are, it has been reported, now less than 20,000 in the UK.
But we are bucking that trend.
deVere United Kingdom and deVere Mortgages are to shortly undergo a further recruitment drive, as part of ongoing, strategic expansion plans as we look to strengthen our UK market position.
However, as I stated in the FT Adviser in June, it is our job as advisers to highlight the immensely rewarding career opportunities available within this dynamic industry to the next generation of advisers, to ensure that financial advice doesn’t become the exclusive domain of only the super wealthy.
There is also the concern that there is an ageing adviser population, with considerable numbers retiring from the profession each year. As such, it is vital that new talent is attracted to the industry sooner rather than later, taking into account the time taken to fully and appropriately train independent financial advisers, or the gap in the financial advisory sector will continue to widen.
