Nervous bankers braced for job losses Nervous investment bankers are contacting headhunters in anticipation of a new wave of redundancies this year, while those already laid off are increasingly willing to accept temporary roles or positions overseas, according to senior figures in London's recruitment industry. The past year has brought a series of job-cutting announcements by "bulge bracket" banks, with many of the job losses happening in London. HSBC outlined plans to shed 30,000 staff by 2013 and Credit Suisse will cut 3,500 jobs over the same period. Citigroup in December said it would lay off 4,500 employees in the next few months, while Royal Bank of Scotland this month pledged to rid itself of 3,500 investment bankers. Analysts expect London to shed more banking jobs this year. Last year the City lost 27,000 financial staff, or 8.5 per cent of the total, according to estimates by the Centre for Economics and Business Research. The situation has prompted a stark change in attitude among the bankers who approach the City's headhunters, said Sonamara Jeffreys, a senior client partner at the executive search group Korn/Ferry Whitehead Mann. Enquiries typically surge in January as bankers unhappy with their bonuses look for richer pickings elsewhere. This year, however, the calls are coming from people eager to line up a new banking job before their current employer lays them off, Ms Jeffreys said. There is still demand for staff in areas such as risk management and compliance as banks respond to increasingly stringent regulation such as the Dodd-Frank act in the US. But as they brace themselves for a new round of job cuts, bankers are expecting client-facing "front office" roles to take a bigger hit than last year, said Geoff Fawcett, head of the UK banking division at Hays, the country's second-largest recruitment group by revenue. You've got a number of investment bankers out there praying at the moment. The exodus from the biggest investment banks has been welcomed by some smaller companies. There is more investment banking talent on the City jobs market than at any time for at least a decade, allowing the few institutions still in expansion mode to cherry-pick new staff, said the chief executive of one London stockbroker. Some larger institutions are also increasing their headcount in London - notably Canadian banks such as RBC Capital Markets and Canaccord, which are seeking to expand their footprint in the City. However, London's weak financial recruitment market is prompting many recently laid-off bankers to look for work in overseas financial centres, with Hong Kong and Singapore the most popular destinations, according to recruiters. Others are seeking opportunities in non-financial corporations - typically working in corporate strategy or mergers and acquisitions, said Ian Temple, chief executive of the recruitment company Hydrogen Group. "There are lots of people who will disappear from the sector and won't come back," he added.