Uncertainty… well yes, the big questions concern Mifid II and passporting issues.
Of the audit professionals I’ve talked to those within branches of mid-cap overseas banks are the most worried. The feeling in large cap Banks and Asset Managers is pretty much “wait and see”. Dare I say that this might be because the big banks were just not prepared? Steve Slater at Reuters reported a few weeks ago “Banking trade bodies said they are holding “non-stop meetings” to discuss the issue. Banks had lined up contingency plans, but some were half-hearted and few banks expected to use them, sources said.”

So this means lots of work for Legal, Controls & Risk staff right?

Well if (and it’s a big if) passporting rights or an equivalent arrangement can be settled with the EU then the Auditors I speak to feel it should be back to business as usual with a string of work for Audit, Accounting, Risk, Controls and Legal professionals.

What of Mifid II – the EU directive that covers everything from bond trading to Hedge funds? Again, Auditors I’ve spoken to have not changed course and expect Mifid II implementation to forge ahead in time for the go live date of Jan 2018.

How has this affected confidence in the Audit job market?
I’ve already seen an Increase in Internal Audit vacancies compared to this time last year especially at the AVP level from Banks with a significant weighting in the UK. We’ve also noticed some financial services houses have lifted previous recruitment freezes.

However, on the flip side with this increase in cost, pay and bonuses are likely to be affected.

Bonuses
The sentiment is that London bonuses are likely to decrease this year and unfortunately for those staff at European banks it’s compounded, as any deferred bonuses will see their value fall sharply.

I’ll post again in the coming days on what jobs will be affected by Brexit and what this means for EU passport holders.