Is the bank merger the beginning of the end for the good times in financial services?
It seems like the good times started to end in October last year.
There were still some prime jobs with top salaries around, but the failure of Australian Capital Reserve in May, collapse of Basis in October, the Centro debacle in December and the most recent casualty, Opes Prime have really compounded to make 2008 an unhappy year.
Interest rates have risen and many people remain in jobs because they were so hard to find that there is concern about letting them go too soon before the cycle corrects.
However, now big banks number three and five are merging, there will be another exodus of jobs from the market.
Westpac chief executive Gail Kelly earlier this month announced it would be moving 3000 jobs offshore. Kelly would definitely be aware of duplications in the merger and would surely be ready to slash jobs.
IFA ran its annual salary survey only last week and we said there'd be a dearth of top jobs on offer in financial services. The trickle effect will now start to be felt.
Financial planners will find it hard to achieve targets, business development managers and sales staff will see reductions in their business and the employment merry-go-round will slow, if not stop completely.
I'd call the Westpac-St George merger the beginning of the end of the good times. The dragon has indeed been slain.
