More than half of the IT posts in the UK financial services sector are being created by investment banks, new figures show.
Research by ReThink Recruitment found that insurance companies create 18% of IT jobs in the industry and high street banks are responsible for 16% of jobs, the survey indicates.
The report notes that investment banks need to create their own IT infrastructure for trading platforms and so contribute 57% of IT jobs in financial services, according to Silicon.com.
The IT recruitment firm points out that many retail banks have outsourced sections of their IT operations overseas, while investment banks had high demand for IT skills because of their tailored architecture needs.
ReThink Recruitment director, Jon Butterfield, suggested that the competitive use of technology in retail banking has dipped in recent years, though new entrants to the sector were continuing to drive demand for IT workers.
“Spending on IT security is being ramped up and over the next few years development of new ATM services and banking by mobile phone should see demand for IT staff in the high street banking sector climb,” he added.