The Square Mile is expected to suffer job losses next year for the first time since 2001, although the axe will fall less heavily and with more precision than during the downturn that followed the bursting of the technology bubble. Financial Times

During the bear market of 2000-2003, a freeze in mergers and takeovers had a savage knock-on effect for the investment banks that earn fees on the back of corporate activity.


Today, the opposite is true and the banks that are in crisis. All the same, non-financial companies are likely to continue requiring the services of investment banks next year, mitigating the sense of despair in the City employment market.

Jobs will still be lost. A prevalent, if not consensus, planning assumption among many senior bankers is that activity could return to levels of three years ago – effectively rewinding the clock to the very beginning of the credit bubble.