Complex event processing (CEP) is clearly a relatively niche area of financial technology, but one that is still growing in the face of difficult market conditions. And, shock-horror, there’s actually a fair bit of hiring going on in this sector.

CEP is intelligent software that is essentially the next step in algorithmic trading – it sifts through market events looking for possible patterns and acts on them.

A recent study into banks’ IT spending patterns by consultancy Aite Group, suggested that while budgets as a whole were likely to shrink by 5%, CEP investment remains on an upward trajectory.

36% of respondents to the survey intended to spend more on CEP this year than in 2008.

Adam Honore, senior analyst at Aite and author of the report, says: “We’re still bullish on the potential for CEP across financial services. Once one group successfully deploys a CEP application, word spreads and more technology groups look at CEP to help solve their issues.”

A number of tech vendors that produce this sort of software have been bolstering their teams as a result of this new surge in business.

Aleri, for example, took on sales and support staff in London, while Streambase has bolstered its senior management team recently and has a number of open technology posts lower down the pecking order. Progress Apama is also recruiting for its UK office and has hired 15 this year alone.

Don DeLoach, CEO of Aleri, says that emerging rules around the management of trading and liquidity risk has driven up demand for its CEP technology from new clients and that existing customers have been expanding their use of the software. This is the reason it increased its headcount.

But while the vendors are obviously enjoying something of a boom time, the banks themselves will be keen to recruit around this area, reckons Chris Pickles, head of investment banking and global accounts at BT Global Financial Services.

“Clearly, this there’s a need to invest in this among the larger investment banks,” he says. “While the smaller firms will look to buy in this software, the bigger players will still look to build in order to gain a competitive edge. This will undoubtedly create jobs.”