Bankers, accountants and lawyers have been leading the recovery in the jobs market while shop assistants and truck drivers who resign are not being replaced. Detailed employment figures released yesterday show that the economic recovery is gathering strength, but some major sectors are still contracting. Employment in the finance sector, which was at the centre of the global downturn, has completely recovered, with the same 411,000 people employed now as in August 2008, before the crisis developed. (The Australian)

A New Zealand investment banker who spent millions of stolen dollars on prostitutes was caught after one of his clients watched a documentary on US fraudster Bernie Madoff, a court was told yesterday. Stephen Versalko, 51, was sentenced to six years in prison for stealing nearly $NZ18 ($14million) over nine years from 2000. (Daily Telegraph)

AMP Horizons Financial Planning Academy is looking to attract more women through a networking and information session aimed at those keen to enter the profession or start up their own practice. (Money Management)

Alarm bells rang in the investment banking community yesterday after JPMorgan lost a $50m court case against Consolidated Minerals, owned by Ukrainian billionaire Gennadiy Bogolyubov’s Palmary Group. (The Australian)

The outlook has brightened for local councils holding troubled Lehman Brothers investments, after the collapsed US investment bank offered to cut a deal with its creditors. (Business Day)