Financial news Ireland – job market news, recruitment & career trends in Ireland for the finance sector

As an international financial services jobs site, with international financial services jobseekers, we feel we ought to be giving you a bit of a steer when it comes to tailoring your CV for jobs outside your home country. There are distinct similarities in what’s expected in different jurisdictions (brevity is almost always good), but there are also distinct variations (Germans like photographs, UK recruiters don’t). For your information, therefore, here’s how you... Read more

One of the options available to Irish Nationwide in its EU state-aid restructuring plan is simply a complete wind-down of the society. Despite the inevitable human cost, is this the preferential choice? At yesterday's AGM, society member Brendan Burgess launched a scathing attack against Irish Nationwide, saying that it was just a "€2.4bn loan book" and that it has no future, and no role in society. Obviously, chairman Danny Kitchen was... Read more

Goldman Sachs' Irish operation doesn’t exactly hog the limelight in the same way as its UK and US peers (particularly at the moment), but 2009 was a bumper year for the firm. It also appears to be a very lucrative place to work. Profits at Goldman Sachs Bank (Europe) Plc were $86.7m (€66.7m) in 2009, compared to $36.3m (€27.9m) in 2008, according to its latest annual report. The firm employs just 48... Read more

Job opportunities within the Irish financial services sector are obviously thin on the ground currently. To make life a little more difficult, an increasing number of the roles that are available need people with relatively niche language skills. European language skills, such as French and German, are being sought after for roles within international banks with Irish operations. More obscurely, though, firms are looking for people who can speak fluent Danish... Read more

The Republic is set to bear the brunt of the 800 job cuts revealed today by Quinn Insurance, despite the fact that lower levels of business from the UK are to blame for the downsizing. The Irish administrator told Quinn to stop writing new business in the UK, because it was making a loss. Later, it was allowed to partially re-enter the UK market, but administrators have determined that job cuts... Read more

In the current climate, it's not a question many people would like to be asked: Which of the domestic Irish banks would you rather work for? It's a bit of a moot point anyway – all of the banks currently have hiring freezes in place. Nonetheless, despite the backlash directed towards NAMA, it could prove to be a turning point – good or bad - for the banks. So, it's really... Read more

Capital markets technology firm First Derivatives is set to add another 40-50 development staff in Dublin, Belfast and Newry after kick-starting a new R&D project. The Newry-based company has been on an aggressive recruitment spree for some time now, having added 142 new jobs over the last year. A fresh injection of cash from Invest Northern Ireland and the European Regional Development Fund - £1.2m to be precise – will allow... Read more

With competition fiercer than ever within the fund accounting space, ensuring your CV fully sells your experience and achievements is essential. As part of our 'How to create an amazing CV' series (which also includes M&A and sales), here's our advice on how to structure your CV and what to include in it if you're interested in a fund accounting role. What's below is based on conversations with financial services recruiters and... Read more

Ireland's financial sector is still in the midst of a jobs crisis, which could eventually see the loss of 10,000 positions, according to the country's finance union. The headline figure from the Irish Bank Officials Association (IBOA) could, of course, create panic among Ireland's financial services employees, but the majority of these roles may have already been lost. However, Bank of Scotland (Ireland)'s decision to axe 750 jobs last week, and the... Read more

Bank of Scotland (Ireland) is set to cut 750 jobs after closing its retail network to focus on corporate and commercial lending activities. The cuts are severe, and are already causing a lot of consternation within Ireland's financial services sector, but cannot come as a complete surprise considering the ongoing restructuring within its parent company Lloyds Banking Group. All 44 BoSI branches, which operate under the Halifax brand, will be closed... Read more

The pitch-fork sporting masses have been quick to point the finger at how lavish pay packets are indicative of the elitism inherent in the financial sector, but perhaps they should delve a little deeper into bankers' linguistic abilities. According to a new paper by academics at the University of Limerick and University of Ulster provocatively titled 'Language and Occupational Status: Linguistic Elitism in the Irish Labour Market', those who speak Gaelic... Read more

Ireland has again fallen victim to Royal Bank of Scotland's wildly swinging axe, after the bank revealed it cutting 108 jobs within its asset financing unit, Lombard. RBS has deemed the division "non-core". This follows job cuts at Ulster Bank and mortgage lender First Active, both arms of the Scottish bank, over the last year. 84 of the redundancies will hit the Republic of Ireland, with the remaining 24 positions going from... Read more

The 450 staff of KBC Bank Ireland can breathe a sigh of relief, at least for the time being, now that it's escaped the restructuring plan imposed on its Belgian parent by the European Commission yesterday. Ireland has not been considered a core market for KBC for some time now, so employees here were on tenterhooks as the bank agreed to sell certain assets in return for receiving state aid.... Read more

If, as many in the recruitment sector will tell you, the situation is looking up for Ireland's financial services jobs market then it's a very slow process. However, adding to the gradually growing tide of optimism is the fact that there were more vacancies last month than at any other point during 2009. The number of new job vacancies in September rose by 31% on August, according to recruiters Premier Group's... Read more

Redundancy announcements in the Irish domestic banking world are a still rare beast, as government intervention prevented what would have inevitably been deep cuts. However, as Bank of Ireland's trading statement today revealed, they're not averse to a little trimming. BoI released a trading statement today to coincide with the government's guarantee announcement on NAMA. It expects to generate income for the six months to 30 September 2009 that will be... Read more

The City of London has produced an interesting study on EU financial services employment. As we mentioned earlier, it contains some bleak projections, such as job levels in major EU financial centres won’t recover until 2013, and even then UK financial services employment will lag 2008 levels by 10,000. It also offers some interesting insights into where to situate your career. As the chart below shows, although the UK offers by... Read more

This might be slightly ironic, considering the rigmarole surrounding the intricacies of setting up the National Asset Management Agency (NAMA), but Dublin could serve as a hub for 'bad bank' assets (insert own joke here) and one possible area of expertise in demand going forward could be chasing impaired loans. A recent piece in the Irish Times pointed to the fact that Dublin's reputation and standing as a financial centre has,... Read more

Bank of Ireland features quite prominently on the league table of financial services redundancies so far this year, but other Irish banks have yet to register union Unite's job cuts round up. The bank has chopped 1,035 people between January and April of this year, according to Unite, which has published the (very long) list of financial services job cuts in an attempt to highlight the plight of the industry. "The financial... Read more

Ireland's financial sector has received a much-needed boost by the entrant of a new range of investment funds worth €90bn, which is likely to create a large number of jobs. However, one industry body suggest competition could get a lot stiffer for the industry. Source UK, a joint venture between Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Bank of America/Merrill Lynch, has unveiled plans to domicile a new range of funds in Ireland.... Read more

At best, banking salaries in Ireland have been frozen this year and in worst-case scenarios, they're actually being reduced. However, bank employees should stand up for their rights and ensure they at least receive the minimum rise required by law. Larry Broderick, general secretary of the Irish Bank Officials' Association says that bank staff - faced with pay cuts, possible redundancy and reduced pension provision - should demand that any salary... Read more