The growing polarisation of Scotland's financial sector is set to have a significant impact on its ability to recruit in the coming years, according to an analysis published today.

In its 'Salary Guide 2015', Core-Asset Consulting's annual benchmarking tool for financial sector professionals in Scotland, the recruiter highlights the significance of last year's high-end mergers alongside a growth in start-ups in the investment management sector.

It says the polarisation has created structural challenges in recruitment that will be felt well beyond 2015.

Betsy Williamson, managing director of Core-Asset Consulting, said:

"In 2014 Scotland witnessed some high profile M&A activity - most notably Aberdeen Asset Management's purchase of Scottish Widows Investment Partnership and Standard Life Investments' acquisition of Ignis Asset Management. In step with this, 2014 also saw a number of boutique fund managers establishing themselves in Scotland, with the likes of Kiltearn and SYZ Asset Management setting up in Edinburgh."

She said not all the start-ups had been breakaways from larger players. Some small, specialist boutiques such as Nikko and Old Mutual had been seeded by London-based or overseas-headquartered companies and taken together, last year probably saw the largest increase in boutiques since the financial crisis.

"This combination of high-end consolidation and small scale activity is having, and will continue to have, a profound effect on the employment market, particularly within asset management. Apart from a small selection of mid-sized fund managers, the market is now becoming polarised between £200bn-plus global players and sub-£60bn boutiques."

There were now a number of organisations with fewer than 150 employees, some with over 1500, and little in between, which was significant.

"It is often underestimated how difficult it is to move from a global company with over 1500 employees to a smaller, more entrepreneurial firm with only, say, 12 people," Ms Williamson said.

"This is because cultural fit - although notoriously difficult to assess - is extremely important when recruiting. This is particularly the case for asset managers, where it can be a key factor in the production of long-term outperformance.

"In the past when the market was more graduated, candidates could move more easily between companies - boutique to mid-tier to global and back again. Likewise, for a large organisation there was less risk in recruiting a candidate from a mid-sized competitor than a boutique, or for a small company to hire from a mid-sized competitor rather than a large rival."

The survey found Scotland's financial sector is firmly in recovery, but urges companies to give "greater consideration to overseas candidates if they are to find the right talent - and in sufficient volumes".

Ms Williamson said: "Faced with the additional challenge that polarisation brings, the need for clients to look to London and overseas is even more pressing. We don't anticipate any slowdown in demand for overseas candidates. If anything, this will continue to grow throughout 2015 and beyond."

At the senior end, for executives on £100,000-plus, nearly half of all Core-Asset Consulting's hires in this sector last year came from either London or overseas.

Elsewhere in financial services, salaries remained relatively steady, with the exception of significant spikes in areas of high demand.

The survey finds that the theme of polarisation extends to employee qualifications and a "growing advantage of candidates with specialist, niche skills".

Ms Williamson said: "The historic view is that individuals who specialise are limiting themselves in some way, but what we are finding is that these are the skill-sets in demand."

The survey found an early response in the market to the government's far-reaching changes in pension provision, with pension technical specialists across sales, service, relationship management, marketing, strategy and operations, all in high demand.

There were also early signs that this trend may be reflected across the wider financial services sector, she added, with the merger of Aviva and Friends Provident ushering in an era of 'super-insurers'.

Ms Williamson said: "Polarisation is happening in life and pensions as well as in asset management."