As financial services firms shift their IT spending patterns from splurging to taking a more strategic approach, there has been an upsurge in demand for business analyst roles in the first half of this year.

The number of firms advertising for business analyst posts on eFinancial Careers in the first six months of 2008 is up by 13% on same period last year.

Rob Steck, who recruits for IT roles at Citi, says business analysts are currently hot property: “Anybody who can successfully face off with the decision-makers and align the technology with business interests, is currently very valuable.”

Overall, the number of IT roles on eFinancial Careers fell by a relatively modest 5%. The biggest downturn was in the volume of project management roles, which fell by 8%. This is perhaps not surprising considering the number of shelved technology projects in the wake of slashed budgets.

Financial services firms spent a record $342.1bn on technology in 2007, according to research by Celent. That figure is still increasing this year, in spite of the credit crunch problems, but IT research firm Pierre Audoin Consultants revised its predictions from a growth rate of 7.7% to 4.6% for 2008.

The actual cuts in spending may be deeper than anticipated. Citi, for example, said it could cut IT costs by up to 20% this year. And David Easthope, an analyst at Celent, thinks some of the larger banks could cut IT budgets by 15% or more.

In spite of this belt-tightening, other areas of IT in finance have held up well. Developer roles advertised on eFinancial Careers rose by 1.8% and system administrator positions increased by 2.2%.