In a tepid year for hiring, the Independent Commission on Banking’s report could yet create a bit of heat around hiring.

As we noted earlier there are downsides to the report: capital will probably cost more and particularly capital intensive areas of UK investment banking which have benefitted from the existence of a big retail deposit base, will suffer.

However, it’s also starting to look like ring fencing retail banking won’t be as straightforward as it seems. Complexity should encourage recruitment as follows:

1) There will be project management and consultancy hiring

Andrew Gray, UK banking leader at PWC, thinks some banks may want to separate out integrated support services for retail and investment banking. He suspects these will be, “costly to separate.”

The process of separation will unquestionably involve consultants and it will unquestionably involve project managers, who are in short supply already.

2) There will be liquidity management hiring

As the cost of capital increases for investment banks, expect more emphasis on liquidity management, CVA trading and regulatory capital expertise.

The banking analysts we spoke to today confessed they’re still confused as to precisely what the implications of the ICB report will be, but that it looks like the initial optimistic reaction could be overdone.

“Senior debt holders are going to be concerned that if they hold a bond in the investment bank, it’s not necessarily going to be backed by the entire group,” says one. “We anticipate this increasing the cost of funding for investment banks in future.”

As the cost of funding increases, anyone who can mitigate that cost will be popular.

3) There will be more regulatory reporting hiring

One analyst said ringfencing retail banking will create a ‘bureaucratic nightmare’ for regulatory reports. Expect more regulatory reporting hiring as a result.

4) There will be IT hiring

Technology companies are already sensing an opportunity here. Intellect, a ‘trade association for the technology industry’ has promptly said it’s launching a review into, ‘the technology and systems impact on banks of ring fencing retail operations.’