Banks increase graduate recruitment - graduate jobs

Opportunities for graduates in the banking sector have increased, with many firms expanding their graduate recruitment programmes for this year.

Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has confirmed plans to take on 596 graduates, more than double the previous year's total and exceeded the average of 500-550 per intake before the economic slowdown.

Swiss group UBS, which was also hit hard by the recession, is looking to return to recruiting the number of graduates it was taking on before the crisis, after dropping by one third over that period. It expects to employ around the same number as RBS.

Barclays has reported that its graduate recruitment levels will be up by 20% this year, while Citi Group plans to take on 300 university-leavers and interns in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The two banks have been joined by the Bank of America and Merrill Lynch in hiring a significant number of graduates in recent weeks.

The benign market conditions, a consequence of state bail-outs and low interest rates, have boosted many areas of investment banking, such as trading.