Glasgow’s International Financial Services District, an ambitious decade-long plan to attract high-skilled, high-paid jobs to the city is approaching a crossroads.

Rumours that American banking giant JP Morgan could be about to pull out of the city, illustrate how precarious the financial sector is at the current time.

The IFSD, dubbed Glasgow’s Wall Street, is in its final year of a 10-year project to build millions of square feet of top class office space to attract the biggest names in finance, creating tens of thousands of jobs.

On track for most of the last decade, the jobs target now looks likely to be narrowly missed as the big players scrutinise budgets and operations closer than ever.

The IFSD’s list of tenants reads like a who’s who of global finance, with Abbey, Barclays, Lloyds JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley, esure, BNP Paribas, Aon and Hymans Robertson.

However, reports that JP Morgan could pull out over UK costs has led to worries a domino effect could lead to the project’s collapse – fears that are unfounded, according to those responsible for bringing new investment to the city.

Experts in Scottish Enterprise and Glasgow city Council are now developing a marketing plan to ensure the city is in a position to cement the reputation built up from the middle of the last decade to ensure the IFSD grows once again in the post-recession global market.

So far the district has exceeded the target of 2m sq ft of Grade A office space made available and created 15,000 jobs. It also has spare capacity available to attract more firms.

However IFSD has also suffered setbacks, with Barclays announcing last year that 350 jobs were moving to Cardiff, and earlier in its history, Abbey shed almost 700.

The IFSD is mostly home to back office operations in software and programming, attracted by a skilled workforce from the city’s three universities.

The jobs compliment the traditional head office functions in Edinburgh.

Jim Watson, senior director for financial services with Scottish Enterprise, said: “Banking has been hit hard [by the recession] and there have been job losses across the board. IFSD has weathered the storm and Glasgow has held its own.

“One reason is the composition of financial services in Glasgow. Insurance and asset management have not been hit as hard as banking, and Glasgow has had a mixed portfolio and is not completely reliant on banking.

“The IFSD has built up a strong brand recognition over the last five to six years. The proposition that is attractive in Glasgow is in the balance of cost and quality.

“It is not the cheapest and it can’t compete on cost with India but it compares better on quality. The cost is cheaper than London but the quality is the same high standard.”

However offices can be moved at the drop of a pound coin – Barclays is to open a development centre in Ukraine with 800 staff.

Mr Watson added: “There is opportunity in adversity.

“When companies are looking at more efficiency and consolidation, Glasgow has a good reputation.

“The IFSD hasn’t grown in the last 12 to 18 months in terms of targets, but it has held its own.

“The first few years were interesting times as post-9/11 there was little or no investment. So we have faced that uncertainty before. This time we are better placed because we have built a reputation as a good place to do business.”

There has been some leakage of staff from firms in the district since the credit crunch bit in August 2008.

However it has been countered by hundreds new jobs at esure and Tesco Bank, and smaller numbers at other firms. The high quality of staff available has been a key factor in attracting business to Glasgow, and is something which the IFSD partners and the city’s universities continue to develop.

Jim Cunningham, depute director of Development and Regeneration at the city council, said it is key to the city’s economic strategy.

He said: “Regeneration is about place, business and people and the three elements must come together to have success, and the IFSD does that.

“There is ongoing dialogue between politicians and officials and the three universities. The Mitsubishi deal with SSE and Strathclyde University last week, is an example of how that partnership can work.

“We need to make sure we have the right supply of graduates coming through.”

Other businesses in the city recognise the importance of high-paid skilled jobs for the wider economy.

Glasgow Chamber of Commerce chief executive, Stuart Patrick said: “Glasgow has a strong heritage in financial services, and the continued success of the IFSD is vital to the future of the city.

“You might have expected to see job losses in the IFSD in recent years, but it has powered ahead with positive announcements from such as Tesco Bank, Odyssey and Financial Technologies.”

When plans were mooted for an IFSD there were scepticism that it would be dominated by call centres.

However the average salary in JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley is reported to be around £40,000 and in the district as a whole, almost £30,000, – more than double the call centre average.