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LONDON, April 6 (Reuters) – The average starting salary for
senior workers in the UK financial sector fell 16.5 percent from
February to March, the biggest such drop in a year as the number
of vacancies slumped compared with a year ago, according to a
report.

Job vacancies at banks, asset managers and some insurance
companies were down 57 percent in March compared with the
previous year, data from recruitment consultancy Morgan McKinley
showed.

But while the industry as a whole is hiring fewer people on
lower salaries than a year ago, amid continued economic
uncertainty, job availability did pick up by 4 percent in the
first three months of 2012 from the fourth quarter of 2011.

Investment banks in particular were hit hard in the second
half of last year by the euro zone debt crisis, leading to
thousands of layoffs in London and other financial centres.

The recent show of optimism tallies with a Confederation of
British Industry survey this week that said some financial firms
had stopped cutting jobs in the first quarter and were hiring
again.

We are beginning to hear some anecdotal indications from
City employers that the market is starting to regain some of the
confidence that was particularly low at the end of last year,
said Andrew Evans at Morgan McKinley.

Even so, March was a weaker month for hiring than February,
with job vacancies dipping 8 percent, a sign that confidence is
still fragile.

Any positive sentiment tends to be immediately cancelled
out by some form of negative market commentary. We are genuinely
working in a confused and uncertain market, Evans said.

Average salaries for senior bankers, fund managers and
senior analysts fell to 78,003 pounds ($123,800) in March. Over
the past year, these salaries have risen 2.6 percent, which is
below the overall inflation rate of 4.4 percent.

Bankers may take home much greater sums than just salaries,
however, with the addition of bonuses and share-based
incentives.

Middle market professionals such as human resources
officers, junior analysts, project managers, financial
controllers, portfolio analysts and business analysts fared
worse, however.

Their salaries fell 12.7 percent in the past 12 months to an
average of 44,605 pounds when starting a new job, compared with
51,099 in March 2011.

Overall, the average starting salary in the UK finance
industry has fallen 7.6 percent since this time last year to
50,330 pounds.

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