LONDON, U.K.: Britain's financial sector added jobs at a faster pace last year as firms raced to secure scarce technology and specialist expertise, even as hiring momentum cooled toward the end of 2025 amid market volatility and budget uncertainty.

Vacancies across the UK financial services industry rose 12 percent in 2025 from a year earlier, driven by demand for skills in artificial intelligence, regulation, data reporting, and other specialist areas, according to recruitment firm Morgan McKinley.

The increase came despite a slowdown in the fourth quarter, when swings in global markets and uncertainty surrounding the government's November budget made hiring managers more cautious, the firm said in its London Employment Monitor, a quarterly survey tracking financial services vacancies.

Technology-focused roles continued to gain ground. Software and computer services accounted for more than 16 percent of all vacancies last year, overtaking traditional finance roles such as investment management and banking, each of which made up about 15 percent of total openings, said Mark Astbury, a director at Morgan McKinley.

The shift reflects how banks, asset managers, and other financial firms are retooling their workforces to keep pace in what Astbury described as a technology arms race, as artificial intelligence and automation become more embedded across trading, compliance, and reporting functions.

At the same time, roles most exposed to automation saw sharp declines. Clerical and administrative positions fell 16 percent over the year, while broking roles dropped 20 percent, as AI-driven tools and automated services reduced the need for staff in those areas, the data showed.

Despite the late-year slowdown, Astbury said hiring conditions should remain supportive in the near term. He expects robust recruitment to continue into the first quarter of this year, helped by relatively low unemployment of around 5 percent and stable inflation at 3.2 percent.