A further sign that job prospects in the City are looking up came last week with a survey by financial recruiter Armstrong International.

Armstrong’s annual report found that – after two years of cutbacks and redundancies – many workers in the City will be receiving an increase in their bonus this year.

Executives in investment banking, equity research, equity trading and leveraged finance would see their bonuses increase by between 10% and 20%, said Armstrong.

In addition, recruitment in credit, interest rate, and equity derivatives will continue to rise well into 2004, the survey found.

Armstrong’s findings come in marked contrast to previous years, when investment banks cut thousands of jobs and froze bonuses altogether as the economic downfall hit the City hard.

“People have gone through so many redundancies, pay freezes and cost cuttings that the top management is now aware that it must reward them this year and send out a more positive message,” said Aidan Kennedy, a partner at Armstrong.