Vacancy slump continues in financial sector

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The number of employees on the lookout for jobs rose by more than 32 percent compared with June, recruitment consultancy Astbury Marsden said.

Dwindling vacancies follow moves in the past month by some of the world's biggest banks to cut costs, with British firms as well as European and U.S. peers announcing plans to axe thousands of jobs. HSBC said last week it would slash 30,000 staff, while Barclays will cut about 3,000.

"What we are seeing is a combination of cost-cutting to make up for weak revenues, and a bigger cull of lower-performing staff than would normally happen," said Mark Cameron, chief operating officer at Astbury Marsden.

The data is based on estimates of vacancy numbers, with 4,800 jobs created in July against 5,400 in June. The fall between May and June was close to 20 percent.

The first quarter of 2011 was up on the year before in terms of new jobs in the City of London, but this has since slumped.

Other recruiters have also tracked this slowdown, with Morgan McKinley highlighting a sharp fall in opportunities in May, which went against typical yearly hiring patterns.