Deloitte is preparing to penetrate the pensions arena. There may be jobs in the offing.

Deloitte says it’s getting ready to challenge the market supremacy of traditional investment and pensions consultants. The firm, never a major player in the pensions consulting arena, is expanding its pension and investment services group.

Its timing appears impeccable – earlier this week, a report from Pension Capital Strategies, reported in the Financial Times suggested pension deficits at Britain’s 100 largest companies are pushing 100bn.

The jobs on offer are in Deloitte’s niftily named ‘Total Reward & Benefits Investment Services’ practice and range from managerial to director level. It’s not clear how many people Deloitte will be hiring.

A headhunter specialising in investment and pensions dismisses the firm’s claims that it will be able to take on consultants such as Mercer and Watson Wyatt, but says that expansion into this area is a natural step for Deloitte. “It is, however, contingent on hiring the right people,” he warns.

Unfortunately for Deloitte, the right people may be hard to find. Banks are also on a hiring spree in this area and are prepared to pay very (very) handsomely to fill their seats. Lehman Brothers, for example, has reportedly hired Catherine Claydon – a managing director of fourteen years’ standing from Goldman Sachs, for its pensions advisory team. People like that don’t come cheap.