Headhunters have been circling firms in the City of London on the back of uncertainty created by the government's imminent 50% tax rate for top earners, according to a new survey that comes less than a month after Financial News revealed the UK capital was poised to become the least tax-friendly of all the main finance hubs.

Online jobs website eFinancialCareers surveyed 703 bankers and financial services professionals and found that 80% of them had been approached by a recruitment firm at least once since the start of 2010 - 43% said this was "substantially" up on last year.