Job vacancies in financial services are on the rise in Birmingham and falling in London and the South East, new research shows.
Data from specialist financial services recruiter BrightPool shows a 30 per cent rise in financial job vacancies in the city compared to 2012, which experts put down to firms like banks and insurers shifting jobs to cut costs.
Attracting financial services firms out of the capital is a key tenant of Birmingham's plans to boost jobs and wealth, with Deutsche Bank transferring more than 2,000 jobs to Brindleyplace considered the feather in the city's cap.
The research shows 1,875 financial job vacancies in Birmingham in 2014 compared to 1,440 two years ago while in London fell by four per cent over the same period.
Angela Hickmore, managing director of BrightPool, said more financial services firms were recognising savings could be made by moving out of the capital.
She said: "Moving more back- and middle-office jobs out of London to the regions is a key part of efforts to improve cost-to-income ratios.
"There are big savings to be made in both property and staff costs. Financial services employment growth in the regions is rapidly outpacing that of London - that is a clear reversal of the trend before the credit crunch when higher returns on capital meant staff costs were not such a concern."
While the research suggests that financial services vacancies are falling in London, the 19,011 vacancies in 2014 is perhaps unsurprisingly more than all of the other listed cities put together.
The rise in opportunities in Birmingham was bettered by Liverpool, York and Manchester - although that may be influenced by BrightPool having offices in London and Harrogate.
The data also shows that Scotland saw the biggest fall as uncertainties over devolution stalled recruitment in the third quarter of 2014.
Financial services jobs created in Edinburgh fell 20 per cent in the two years to 1,595 in in Q4 2014 from 1,995 two years earlier.
Ms Hickmore said some regions could still be hard to recruit in as there was a smaller local pool of experienced financial services staff compared with more established financial services centres such as London.
She added: "Talent may be cheaper in some cities in the north but it is also harder to find in sufficient numbers.
"That can cause recruitment headaches for those businesses locating operations there.
"Concerns over the impact of Scottish independence was widely voiced amongst the financial services sector. This led to a slowdown in recruitment north of the border - despite the cost advantages of Glasgow over other UK cities.
"The financial services industry is traditionally very strong in Scotland. Now the referendum is over, business confidence is returning and recruitment trends in the financial services sector should start to closely match those of the other regions."
