Stark warning for jobs as Brexit 'fog' envelops Scotland’s financial sector

A Brexit “fog” has enveloped Scotland’s finance sector, with recruitment experts warning that top talent is continuing to depart one of the country’s most important industries.

Betsy Williamson is a leading figure in financial services recruitment in Scotland and the MD and founder of Edinburgh based Core-Asset Consulting.

Over the last three months the number of new roles created in financial services is down 10.8 per cent on the same period last year, despite a modest uptick in temporary roles being filled, according to specialist recruiter Core-Asset Consulting.

The firm noted that companies offering products and services designed for the EU were moving operations and roles formerly in Scotland overseas as confusion surrounding Brexit is compounded by the pandemic.

Betsy Williamson, managing director and founder of Edinburgh-based Core-Asset, said: “We need greater awareness of the day-to-day issues facing the financial sector right now. From our perspective, Scotland is struggling and losing more talent and roles than needs to be the case.

“Because it’s a service, it isn’t as tangible as the movement of goods, so the industry doesn’t get the same showing as fisheries, or physical import and export businesses.

“Yet roles working on EU-specific frameworks or products are leaving our shores without something there to replace them. It’s quite difficult to see it happening in front of our eyes.

“Against a backdrop of Covid we can’t lose sight of the gargantuan changes that Brexit is bringing. We need policymakers to do their job, the main thing they’re paid to do, and make decisions.”

The firm – one of the top recruitment players in a financial services sector that accounts for about 7 per cent of Scotland’s economic output – said it had been made aware of individual cases, with talent stuck “in limbo” as Brexit and Covid-19 implications combine.

Williamson said: “We have numerous cases right now, where we have candidates from mainland Europe that we’ve placed in roles in Edinburgh. Their roles have now been relocated, often to Ireland, or back to the mainland.

“Yet because of Covid, they’re still here working from home. It doesn’t bode well longer term for Scotland unless it can be addressed by policymakers.

“We need these jobs here – they’re highly valued well remunerated – and therefore a big contributor to the local and national economy.”

She added: “At the start of the year, our annual salary guide pinpointed Brexit as the huge overriding issue the sector needed to face and adapt to.

“While Covid has jumped ahead in terms of urgency, the ramifications of Brexit are still playing out – and the picture is far too foggy as it stands. It’s impacting the health and prospects of a vital cog in the Scottish economy.”

A report during the summer showed that Scotland attracted more than half of the jobs created by foreign investors in the UK’s financial services sector last year.

Strong growth in Scotland’s share of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the industry also saw it buck the trend of falling project numbers seen in the UK and Europe, the EY UK Attractiveness Report for Financial Services 2020 revealed.

The study showed that the UK continued to be Europe’s most attractive location for international investment into financial services.

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