Confidence amongst IT contractors working in financial services has increased dramatically over the last year as banks carry on ploughing money into IT investment, new research shows.
This time in 2010, 22% of IT contractors thought the financial services sector would create the most IT opportunities. That figure has now risen to 36.7%. As you would expect, confidence in the public sector’s ability to create opportunities for IT contractors has fallen to an all time low of just 4.5%.
The big banks are starting to kick-start projects that were put on the back burner during the recession. One reason for this huge IT investment is the intense regulatory pressure that now faces the financial services sector. Transactions need to be more transparent and risk monitoring improved to comply with the new government regulations.
We’ve heard a lot about skills shortages in recent months and a lot of companies have been bringing in Indian IT staff to fill vacancies in this country. But that may be about to change as the Asian country is now experiencing its own talent shortfall for IT engineers.
Data from the Indian government predicts that the country needs half a million IT engineers to support growth in the sector. Multi-nationals are investing there; many companies rely on India for back office support and new product development is ongoing.
But India is struggling to retain its key talent and recruiters are now attempting to repatriate those people; a task that is proving challenging. However, if they succeed, that will leave more opportunities open to IT umbrella company contractors in the UK and maybe we will then see a zero unemployment rate in the IT sector.
© 2010 All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.
Image: Beauty in Simplicity by BrentOzar
