BS Risk Mid-year - Flipbook - Page 4
BARCLAYSIMPSON.COM
4
Risk Management
& Quants activity index
Market overview
300
210
203
319
243
240
166
253
234
185
157
175
168
160
2021 | Q4
2022 | Q1
2022 | Q2
2022 | Q3
2022 | Q4
2023 | Q1
2023 | Q2
2023 | Q3
2023 | Q4
2024 | Q1
2024 | Q2
2024 | Q3
Overall, the financial system seems to be
healthy with well-capitalised banks, but costs
have escalated post-COVID, and revenue
growth has been hard to come by. This has
led to various measures to reduce costs,
including redundancies, hiring freezes, the offand near-shoring of roles, and consolidation,
especially in the retail banking sector.
150
2021 | Q3
Our optimism for the coming months is also
bolstered by the prospect of a more stable
political environment, the early green shoots
of economic recovery and interest rates likely
coming down from their peak.
205
While the run-up to the General Election
was undoubtedly a contributory factor, slow
global growth, persistent inflation and high
interest rates had a more direct effect on risk
recruitment markets.
200
2021 | Q2
Despite these challenges, we maintain a
positive outlook for risk recruitment. As
departments become increasingly underresourced, underlying demand continues to
steadily increase. In other words, the worst
seems to be behind us, and we anticipate an
increase in activity from Q4 onwards.
183
Across all the areas of risk that we cover,
hiring was relatively subdued in the first half
of 2024, despite a few periods of elevated
activity, particularly in Q2. Opportunities in
quants, commodities, distressed credit and
non-financial risk have provided some relief
from a challenging market overall.
2021 | Q1
RISK MANAGEMENT & QUANTS | RECRUITMENT MARKET UPDATE 2024
250
100
Source: Barclay Simpson - in-house recruitment activity data
indicating the pace of the market.
