'One in three may quit City' over tax worries

Nearly three out of 10 City professionals have made plans to leave London in the near future if changes to financial regulation and the new tax regime become too much for them.

A City recruitment website has found that the number of workers sending their CVs to foreign banks and fund managers is on the rise and that others are seeking internal transfers to work abroad for their existing employer in foreign branches.

Further lay-offs and redundancies are also inevitable in the City and Canary Wharf, according to the latest survey of financial professionals based in London by eFinancialCareers. It found that 57% of professionals believe that there will be further job cuts in the next six months while only 7% are "certain" there will be no further lay-offs at their firm.

More than a third of those surveyed said they could live for a year or more on their savings.

People are split - 43% to 42% - over whether employment levels in the City will return to the record levels seen in 2007 within the next decade. But despite the gloom, the vast majority of respondents, 89%, said that they wanted to remain in the financial services business. Good pay and "professional challenge" were cited as the biggest motivators.