2009 has been a good year for….

Foreign exchange technology:

The reason for investment banks pouring more money into developing a high frequency, low latency FX e-commerce trading platform are simple – around 80% of global FX trades will be conducted electronically next year, according to estimates from consultancy Greenwich Associates, so IT is more essential than ever to stay ahead of the competition.

Nearly 90% of sell-side and buy-side firms polled by tech vendors StreamBase were planning on increasing their spend on FX IT in 2009. As a result, demand for IT expertise has surged, with the likes of HSBC, SocGen, BNP Paribas, Nomura, and JPMorgan all looking to compete with the top five.

These are Deutsche Bank, UBS, Barclays, Citigroup and Royal Bank of Scotland, according to rankings by Euromoney magazine. However, the big players have also been investing in IT hiring FX tech talent.

Equity derivatives IT

2009 was a tale of two halves for the equity derivatives market – after a period of retrenchment in the first six months, the latter part of the year has been resurgent for the asset class. This looks set to continue into 2010.

Not surprisingly, investment in technology has followed, and a number of banks – most notably, Barclays Capital, Credit Suisse, Morgan Stanley, Nomura and even UBS have been recruiting for tech talent.

However, direct experience of equity derivatives, combined with the relevant technical skills, is not in plentiful supply. As a result banks are thought to be offering pay rises of around 15%, as well as sign on bonuses.

Risk management:

Predictably, risk management has continued to be a pertinent issue throughout 2009, and financial services firms still need to commit more money to better risk management IT platforms.

A report by the Senior Supervisors Group (SSG) – a body made up of seven financial services watchdogs – suggests that inadequate IT infrastructure is still hindering risk management identification and measurement.

Banks are, however, tackling this: “It’s difficult to think of a firm that’s not looking to bring people on board,” said Paul Bennie, director of Bennie MacLean, an investment banking technology headhunter.

And 2009 has been a bad year for…

Technologists working in retail banks:

Aside from the prospect of redundancy that was hanging over retail banking technologists in 2009 – particularly those within RBS and Lloyds Banking Group – a new threat to their employment prospects emerged.

The Lloyds Banking Group Union could not contain its outrage at the fact that as many as 1,300 Indian contractors has been brought into the UK to carry out homegrown projects at a fraction of the cost. But the real question is whether Lloyds was alone in indulging in such practices.

RBS, for instance, was believed to have given an “entire floor” of its office space to contractors from outsourcing provider Infosys. Outsourcing experts told us this is a relatively common method.

Nonetheless, a slight glimmer of hope for retail banking techies comes from anticipated new arrivals on the UK’s retail banking scene, but sadly few jobs have yet to materialise.

Contractors:

OK, so it was last year when the blanket 12-15% daily rate cut was imposed, and IT contractors in financial services were ushered out the door in their thousands.

Now, however, their “cost flexibility” is working to their advantage, and just about every facet of financial services, from hedge funds to investment banks, have been keen to take them on for projects with a pre-defined lifecycle.

But, let’s not get carried away. According to pre-employment screening company Powerchex, the number of positions offered to IT contractors in financial services has been on the up throughout the year, but as at Q3 (the latest figures released), recruitment was down 36% on the comparative period in 2008.

Oh, and with the exception of some specialist areas, daily rates haven’t budged from the reduced figures imposed towards the tail end of 2008.

The IT staff at the following firms….

Axa Sun Life, Barclays, Citigroup, Credit Suisse, Dresdner Bank, Goldman Sachs, HBOS, HSBC, Lloyds TSB, JP Morgan, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, RBS, Standard Bank and UBS, who lost their jobs in the first half of this year and beyond. And any we may have missed…