City of London Finance Jobs Down 35% Amid Weak Economy

New City jobs have fallen by more than a third as tighter banking regulations and a weak economy forced financial services companies to reduce staff capacity.

The number of new jobs created in the City and Canary Wharf financial districts stands at 35,115, down 35 percent in 2012 as against the 54,025 jobs created in 2011, revealed a survey from the recruiter Astbury Marsden.

"Tighter regulation including higher capital requirements forced up costs at a time when revenues dipped due to a number of factors including a continued weak economy and less trading activity," said Mark Cameron, chief operating officer of Astbury Marsden.

The new City jobs available in December were about 800 compared with the 1,490 available at the same period, a year ago.

"Although broad cost-cutting is fairly typical in the City during a downturn, 2012 was particularly significant as senior management in banks took very decisive action and implemented major structural changes including winding down entire units.

"Hopefully we are now behind the worst of the cost-cutting. Although banks may still tinker with staffing numbers, most of the obvious and immediate cuts are likely to have now been made."

However, the firm believes that hiring will improve in 2013 in the back of reduced eurozone crisis concerns.

"Some of the dark clouds around the euro - which has been a major concern in the City for the last 18 months - seem to have lifted which will encourage some firms who are contemplating hiring staff".

Recently, both Citigroup and the Switzerland-based UBS have announced plans to slash thousands of jobs to cut costs. While Citigroup was aiming to axe nearly four percent of its global workforce, UBS would be laying-off 10,000 jobs, nearly 15 percent of its workforce.