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job vacancies in finance and management consultancy The UK’s banking, investment and insurance industry covers a wide range of employers. This includes investment banks, commercial banks and building societies, broking firms, independent financial advisers, insurance and reinsurance companies. The industry saw considerable growth in recent years in the numbers of graduate vacancies on offer. However, the UK's economy shrank at the fastest pace for nearly 30 years in the fourth quarter of 2008 and Britain officially entered a recession period. The banking, investment and insurance industry has been strongly hit by the economic downturn, resulting in cuts in pay and a decrease in the amount of jobs available. Ads by Google The insurance and pensions industry has also seen a considerable downsizing in employment in the past five years. Competition for both internship and graduate scheme places is even more fierce in the current climate than it used to be, with an average of over 2,000 applications per organisation (Target Graduate Trends Survey 2006/7: Banking and Investment). In an increasingly globalised sector where language skills are highly valued, UK graduates are also facing increasing competition from overseas graduates. What kind of work can I do?- Retail banking - covers the financial services provided by the high-street banks for individual customers and small businesses through their branch network.
- Investment banking - covers the provision of specialised financial services and advice to industrial, commercial and government clients.
- Private banking - specialist banks offering services to high net-worth individuals (the wealthy). The range of financial services offered is wide and can be tailored to the needs of the customer, e.g, asset management, estate planning.
- Mergers and acquisitions - buying, selling or combining different companies.
- Actuarial - concerned with long-term financial planning in areas such as insurance and pensions.
- Property insurance.
- Life assurance.
- Insurance broking - analysing client needs and negotiating the best deal with insurance companies.
- Reinsurance - insurers spreading their risk by taking on their own insurance against their claims.
- Underwriting - analysing risks and setting premiums.
What’s it like working in this sector?- Graduate salaries are amongst the highest in the UK and banks in particular are offering more competitive starting salaries to graduates than ever before.
- Many employers offer additional benefits such as a sign-on bonus (lump sum of money on joining the company), gym membership and a company bonus scheme.
- Graduates entering banking can expect to receive an average starting salary of £31,625 in 2007 (Target Graduate Trends Survey 2006/7: Banking and Investment) and this can be as high as £36,000, particularly in investment banking.
- Graduates joining the insurance profession will earn on average £24,750 in their first year of employment.
- Working hours in this sector can be notoriously long, particularly for new graduates.
- In investment banking, it is not unusual for analysts (entry-level graduates) to work 12-hour days or longer.
How big is this sector?- More than 350,000 individuals work in the financial services industry in the UK (Skills Review: UK Wholesale Financial Services Summary, Financial Services Skills Council, May 2007).
- The insurance industry offers a wide range of jobs, including actuarial work, sales, surveying, claims handling and investigation, underwriting, risk management, investment management, and pensions management.
- Insurance companies also recruit for general management functions such as accountancy, marketing, management services and personnel.
Where can I work?- The City of London is the focal point of the UK financial services sector. However, it has been hit hard by the recession and therefore graduates should be looking into other directions as well.
- There are thriving financial districts in other large cities such as Manchester, Leeds, Bristol, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Cardiff.
- Many of the organisations in the UK financial services sector are part of international groups (e.g. HSBC) or have international interests and clients based outside of the UK.
- Opportunities exist to work in niche hedge funds, economic consultancies and boutique firms.
- Opportunities to work overseas might arise for those who make their careers with global firms. Even if the industry is under the recession there are still lots of opportunities abroad, especially in emerging markets such as Brazil, Russia and Kazakhstan. Students speaking Asian languages should be looking for opportunities in Hong Kong, Singapore and China. For more information see opportunities abroad.
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