Britain’s financial services sector will have shed 20,000 jobs in six months by the end of the first quarter, according to the CBI and PricewaterhouseCoopers.
The latest quarterly CBI/PwC report on the sector estimates 11,000 jobs will be lost in the first three months of the year, following 9,000 job losses in the fourth quarter of 2011.
It would take the total number of UK financial services job cuts to 101,000 since the collapse of Lehman Brothers in the fourth quarter of 2008, within a sector that employs 1.05m people.
According to the report, employment in banking fell at the fastest rate in the three months to December, and Kevin Burrowes, UK Financial Services Leader at PwC, said further job losses “seem inevitable” as banks tried to cut costs.
Overall optimism in the sector was lower than three months ago, falling to -24pc compared with -20pc in September, as the eurozone debt crisis weighed down on sentiment.
“Firms are less optimistic, employment is down and investment intentions for next year are weaker, as concerns about the global recovery and ongoing troubles in the eurozone create uncertainty,” said Ian McCafferty, the CBI’s chief economic adviser.
Competition and level of demand were considered the two factors most likely to constrain business expansion in the coming year.
Mr Burrowes said UK banks were growing increasingly concerned about prospects for non-performing loans, anticipating a rise in the number of people falling into arrears on their mortgages and credit cards.
“Eurozone turmoil, uncertainty in the global economy, UK austerity, weak household incomes, increased competition, significant regulatory changes, and reducing headcount, not to mention the fight for funding, all point to a challenging year for bank management,” Mr Burrowes said.
He said banks were had “woken up” to increasing competition on the high street, and were also preparing to spend more time and money on matters related to regulatory changes.
Mr Burrowes said the availability of credit was a big issue for banks and would increasingly “cloud the sector” over the next six months.
Despite the downbeat outlook for employment and increasing pessimism, the volume of business in the financial sector grew at the fastest pace over the period since June 2007, before the onset of the credit crisis. Of the 106 companies surveyed, 53pc saw volumes rise over the past three months while 24pc reported a fall, giving a balance of +29pc, compared with +10pc in September.
A balance of +19pc expected business volumes to rise again over the next three months, and the level of business was considered “normal” for the first time since September 2007, when the scale of Northern Rock’s problems came to light
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