Job availability rose by 25%, from 5,859 to 7,308 new roles, in the final quarter of 2012 and the first quarter of 2013.
However, despite this, March 2013 saw hiring decrease: month-on-month job opportunities across the City fell by 7%, from 2,583 to 2,394. This is a 14% decline from the same month last year, when 2,797 jobs were registered.
Despite this drop in job creation, March's was the slowest decline for more than a year and a half. In comparison, the decline between September 2011 and September 2012 was 43%, and between March 2011 and March 2012 it was 55%.
Hakan Enver, operations director, Morgan McKinley Financial Services, said: "Despite the decrease in jobs being released in March 13, there is still some positive news with financial services vacancies in Q1 13 showing an improvement on Q4 12.
"This data indicates a good start to the year, but March 13 was negatively affected by Easter coming earlier than usual, causing it to be a shorter working month and disrupting the process of releasing new roles to the market."
The Morgan McKinley figures also revealed pay in the City continues to be competitive. It showed the average change in salary for those securing new jobs during March 2013 was an increase of 17%, indicating that competitive salary offers are out there.
Governance related functions including risk management, compliance and internal audit, as well as change management - specifically focusing on finance - are areas where talent is still sought after, the data found.
"The significant rise in salary offers in March 13 is positive for the strength of the jobs market," Enver said. "There are further indicators of confidence when it comes to remuneration; not only have we seen more dual offers for City job seekers, but many professionals are now also more self-assured in pushing for much higher pay than they are currently earning."
Enver added: "This picture of the hiring market is backed up by what employers are telling us; that there is more appetite to hire and the process is more fluid with fewer obstacles to bringing new talent on board."
