Despite the bullish statements on IT spending within banks, it seems redundancies are rife within tech teams.

The cuts in banks aren’t limited to the UK, says a new report by recruiters Heidrick & Struggles, and the axe is being wielded quite freely, with between 5% and 20% of staff being cut in some institutions.

Morgan Stanley has fired 150 staff in London, with the majority thought to have come from the back office, including IT roles, according to Reuters.

The survey results go against the latest CBI-PricewaterhouseCoopers report, which predicts a continued upward trend in banks’ IT spend, and PAC Consulting tips them to increase tech pay-out by 7.7% from 2007 to 2011.

But perhaps two separate studies with an outlook over the entire IT sector, by Gartner and Forrester Research, paint a more realistic picture. They have halved predictions for IT spending, due to the bleak economic outlook in the US.

James Parker, manager of technology and consulting at recruiters Robert Walters, reckons some banks are using the problems of others to their advantage: “With the uncertainty in the market, we’re inevitably seeing more CVs from people keen to see what other opportunities are out there. However, some of our clients are taking the chance to steal a march on their competitors and are actively bolstering their IT teams.”

The Heidrick & Struggles survey didn’t specify which areas the cuts would occur in. However, technologists who find themselves out on their ear might find a raft of opportunities elsewhere in financial services.

The report says: “We are seeing asset management and the hedge fund space continuing to be active in hiring senior IT staff.”

Not surprisingly, in the wake of MiFID, asset managers are looking for skilled change managers to oversee the upheaval of current business practices.

And there’s always a silver lining somewhere – as investment in new tech-based trading platforms and electronic exchanges heats up, a fight for talent has erupted in this area.