Amid the gloom of front-office IT recruitment, a few bright spots remain – commodities, FX and equity derivatives. Some investment banks are taking on teams of people, but can you secure a role if you don’t have the business knowledge?

One head of IT recruitment at a bulge-bracket bank says that as money is being poured into commodities desks, banks are focusing on getting front-office tech support to this area.

“In an ideal world, somebody will have business-specific knowledge, but it’s not essential. As long as somebody can grasp the technical requirements, and has front-office experience, banks will take them on.”

Tech support roles within commodities have been particularly prevalent at Goldman Sachs and Barclays Capital in the UK, say recruiters, whereas UBS and Credit Suisse have been largely absent in any sector.

Stephen Feline, manager at recruiters Kaizen Partnership, says that equity derivatives is another hive of activity, and banks are welcoming technologists from other product areas, provided they have trading floor experience.

Abigail Wauby, manager of the IT division at recruiters Project Partners, says commodities, FX and money markets are all busy, but if you have no previous experience you’ve got no chance.

“Currently, there’s a huge abundance of people on the market with trading floor experience,” she says. “Some, but not all, investment banks are recruiting for FX and commodities in quite large numbers. If you have product knowledge you can move up, but banks won’t take on people from other sectors.”