London bank job competition toughest of crisis

Some 8,320 new candidates had to fight it out for only 3,150 jobs that opened in May, hiring firm Morgan McKinley said.

The number of new openings increased 14 percent compared to April but fell 62 percent from a year earlier.

The average salary for London's financial employees stood at 49,238 pounds, up 2 percent on May 2008, it said.

Morgan McKinley, which hires mainly for investment banks, hedge funds and asset managers, based the survey on numbers of new candidates and new vacancies the firm added to its files and worked out statistics for the full market using its market share.

(Reporting by Olesya Dmitracova; editing by Elaine Hardcastle)