Dufrain Consulting launches recruitment drive in Leeds

Dufrain Consulting, a financial services consultancy based in Edinburgh, is seeking to expand its UK wide operation on the back of increasing demand for solutions to complex data issues arising out of ever more demanding regulatory requirements. One of its expansion targets is Leeds, which strong financial sector is a natural target for the firm’s services.

Leeds has a booming financial services sector. The city houses around a quarter of a million people that work in the city’s financial and professional sector. The city hosts the North’s regional offices of some of the UK’s largest financial services firms, including the second biggest office of the Bank of England, Norwich Union, First Direct, Lloyds Banking Group (Lloyds TSB), Lloyds Banking Group (HBOS), Allied Irish Bank, Royal Bank of Scotland, HSBC, Leeds Building Society, Alliance and Leicester, Yorkshire Bank, Zurich Financial Services and Direct Line.

Since Leeds is one of the UK’s strongholds in terms of financial services, Dufrain’s aim to expand the firm by 50 consultants over the coming six months will be partly focused on establishing a base in the Northern city. The continued growth of the financial sector is in part dependent on being in compliance with financial regulations laid on financial services institutions in the wake of the financial crisis, for which the firm provides a range of solutions. A spokeswoman for Dufrain says: “We have a huge emphasis on Leeds because we think there is going to be a very significant demand for our services there. There’s a very big financial services sector in the city and we see a great deal of potential.”

Since its formation in 2010, Dufrain has grown rapidly from the continued demand for financial services consulting – particularly from integrating dispersed data channels into one. Its turnover between May last year and this year reached £4.2 million, and is expected to increase 80% this year to £7.5 million. Besides expanding in Leeds, the firm is also looking to expand its footprint into Manchester, Glasgow, London and Dublin. By the end of this year the fifty new analysts will see the firm grow from 85 based in London and Edinburgh, to 135 spread also across its new locations in Manchester and Dublin as well as a presence in Leeds and Glasgow.