The availability of jobs for IT specialists working within the UK’s financial services sector saw a significant uptick in the first two months of the year, according to research carried out by McGregor Boyall, the London-based recruitment consultancy, Banking Technology reports.

"We saw a steady increase in hiring requirements from the beginning of 2009 but this upward trend has accelerated significantly during the first two months of 2010," Laurie Boyall, managing director of McGregor Boyall, is reported to have said.

"It is perhaps too early to tell whether this trend is anything more than a normal New Year spike but the increase is certainly more significant than anything we have seen in the last two years."

The firm’s IT hiring index also found that the first months of 2010 reversed a 2009 trend: while last year contract roles dominated financial firms’ hiring requirements, permanent roles are now far more prevalent.

"This trend is typical of the early stages of recovery when the ability to hire on a permanent basis is constrained. However, the very sharp increase in the availability of permanent roles which is now outpacing contract requirements does seem to suggest an increasing level of confidence in the market," said Boyall.

Drilling down into McGregor Boyall's findings, demand for developers dominated January and February of this year, accounting for 42 per cent of vacancies, while business analyst positions accounted for 16 per cent. In terms of product-focused hiring, derivatives, risk and FX were the top three most active hirers, respectively accounting for 19, 13 and 14 per cent of recruitment activity.