eFinancialCareers

Financially, the outlook at Allied Irish Banks could barely be bleaker, with the bank last week reporting a pre-tax loss of €2.66bn (£2.4bn) for 2009 and a tripling of its bad debts. Yet, while managing director Colm Doherty has been bullish about continuing “aggressive cost-cutting”, recruiters are divided as to whether this well mean massive job losses on top of the 1,600 jobs that have already gone at the bank. “The feeling... Read more

A three-way merger of EBS, Irish Nationwide and Permanent TSB could lead to the closure of some 120 branches across Ireland, or nearly half their combined total. The forecast in a note by Davy Stockbrokers has suggested the merged mutuals’ group – which it is predicted could become a 'third force' in Irish banking – could look to make savings of at least €44m a year and have a net asset... Read more

In the current market conditions, optimism within Ireland's banking sector is hard to come by. But, while the situation does not look like drastically improving in 2010, the majority of financial services professionals we surveyed in January believe the worst is behind us. Nearly half (48%) of respondents to our survey said they were confident 2010 will be better than 2009, as opposed to 33% who feel the opposite. Around 20%... Read more

The National Asset Management Agency (NAMA) may have unveiled some key appointments in the last couple of weeks, but it's also spurring healthy levels of recruitment within Ireland's banks ahead of the agency going live. As the banks start to work through the implications of NAMA, they've been compelled to add to their ranks, say recruiters. “In preparation for NAMA and because of distressed lending portfolios, we have been seeing increased... Read more

Corporate bankers in Ireland have seen their salaries shrink by as much as €18k over the last year as redundancies and lack of new job opportunities took their toll on pay. The latest salary survey by recruiters Robert Walters illustrates just how bleak the last 12 months have been for corporate bankers. The majority of roles in this sector have seen salaries shrink, but relationship managers with more than five... Read more

Gaining work experience in financial centres outside of Ireland could mean you ultimately end up earning as much as 11% more than your less travel-minded contemporaries. At least that's the theory put forward by the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), which suggests that Irish emigrates who spent at least a year working abroad earned more when they returned home. The ERSI interviewed over 42,000 workers across various industries for its research,... Read more

After a spate of redundancies over the last 18 months, the hedge fund administration space in Ireland has undergone a change of fortunes and most major players are looking to add to their ranks again. Hedge fund assets under administration have now swelled to over $2trillion, according to the 2009 Q4 HFN Hedge Fund Administrator Survey. As Ireland undertakes around 45% of global hedge fund accounting, it has of course benefited.... 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

If you’re applying for multiple jobs, and doing so online, you may reach a point at which you start to question the value of writing yet another cover letter describing why you’re suited to yet another role that you’re applying for speculatively and may get absolutely nowhere with. Don’t go there. Although covering letters are time consuming, repetitive, can state the obvious, and may never be read, they’re probably still worth it. “CVs... 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 230 redundancies confirmed by Anglo Irish Bank today has to rank among the least surprising announcements of recent times – even if final number of job losses does fall at the lower end of predictions. However, rather ominously, more are likely going forward. Of the 230 job losses, 110 will be in Ireland, while 95 fall on the UK operations and 25 in the US. The bank also says that... Read more

Amid one of the worst employment markets in living memory, beleaguered lender Anglo Irish Bank is due to unveil a wide-ranging cost-cutting exercise next month, which could see hundreds of jobs lost. What chance do its employees have of finding new positions? The bank has been working with external consultant Deloitte since May to determine the scale of a programme designed to shrink costs “to match the balance sheet size”. October... Read more

The message to Irish students hoping to move into financial services upon graduation next year is very clear – look overseas. Perhaps not surprisingly, considering the overarching grim tidings within the Irish banking sector, domestic institutions like Bank of Ireland, Anglo Irish and AIB have cancelled their graduate intake for 2010. "The domestic market is pretty much closed for recruitment and that is reflective of the situation affecting the... Read more

Bank of Ireland has transferred over 2,000 staff from its retail banking division in the Republic to the group's central support functions in the face of reduced business activity. Elsewhere, total headcount has reduced by just 5%, but a hiring freeze remains and bonuses have been slashed as part of an ongoing cost-cutting exercise. "Staff numbers are down as a result of a recruitment freeze, a policy of non-replacement of... 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

AIB staff have the government to thank for the fact that the bank has yet to announce any redundancy plans, in spite of posting a €872m for the first half of 2009. However, headcount is down since the beginning of this year, bonuses have evaporated and hiring is still non-existent. The results were predictably bleak – a €872m loss for the first six months of 2009, compared to a €1.04bn profit... 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

Good news: 300 new jobs are being created in Dublin’s International Financial Services District. However, they are being earmarked for people from disadvantaged backgrounds that would normally have been excluded from the financial sector. The National College of Ireland has rolled out an educational initiative which aims to give 300 members of disadvantaged communities - in areas like inner city areas of Dublin and the docklands - jobs in the... Read more

Things aren’t looking so great for employees at the Big Four accountancy firms in Ireland. After KPMG’s revelation that it would not be extending the contracts of qualifying trainees this year, PricewaterhouseCoopers has now announced a 10% cut in salaries for the majority of its staff. Not surprisingly, a lot of them are exploring other options. PwC employs over 500 people in Ireland and says that the pay cuts are... Read more