This week, ten of the largest US financial institutions were granted permission by the Treasury to begin repaying government-bailout funds received under the Troubled Asset Relief Program. Along with the results of recent stress tests, this move is seen as a sign that the financial services industry has pulled back from the brink of collapse. There is not smooth sailing ahead for this sector, however:
While the collapse of the U.S. banking system is no longer seen as an imminent danger, access to the capital markets remains difficult and bank balance sheets are clogged with troubled loans and other assets. Most of the nation's 8,000 banks are being hammered by the recession, and the number of bank failures is expected to climb.
WANTED's hiring demand data suggests that a bit of optimism is warranted. Hiring demand at the ten major financial institutions repaying TARP funds has risen in each of the last 3 months. Online job ads for these firms were up 46 percent in May compared to February 2009.
Source: WANTED Analytics
The ten financial institutions granted permission to begin repaying TARP funds are: J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Morgan Stanley, U.S. Bancorp and BB&T Corp., American Express Co., Capital One Financial Corp., Bank of New York Mellon Corp., State Street Corp. and Northern Trust Corp.
The top occupational categories these firms are advertising for are Office and Administrative Support, Sales and Related, and Business and Financial Operations. The latter category includes Loan Officers, which we reported last week as showing an overall increase in hiring demand of 26.8 percent, compared to a year ago.
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