Hey monkeys, just curious about why salaries are so low for entry-level analysts in London compared to other places in the world.
Normal comp at a BB in London would be GBP 50K + 15K bonus and a little something for signing, which would amount to c.70K in total. As of today's exchange rates, this would represent USD 98K and EUR 80K.
From what I understood:
* NY BB pay is in the form of USD 85K + 60K in bonus + something I guess for signing, which would amount to 150K all-in
* Continental Europe pay is EUR 75K + 30K in bonus + a little something for signing, which would amount to 110K all-in (or USD 135K)
As you can see there is a substantial difference in favor of NY and Continental Europe (98K vs. 150K vs. 135K) and I cannot manage to find rational explanations to this. Cost of living is super high in London and much higher than Continental Europe for example.
I know the pound has taken a big hit due to Brexit but I was wondering if there were other rational explanations to those big differences in salary levels (pre-Brexit salaries were still lower). Also, if this difference has been significantly widened due to Brexit, do you expect a normalization of the salary levels in the coming years?
Thanks all.
Not sure the 70 is right, I believe the 15 bonus are a stub only.
I didn’t start in IBD but PE, and made 90 base/bonus + perks on top as analyst 1. To my understanding that’s in line with upper end of top ranked banking peers, but not unheard of at all.
Interested to know as well. The salaries for continental Europe seem very high as well seems weird.
My experience and hearing from friends at BB's in continental European offices, base pay is usually €55k with a signing bonus of 5-10k + bonuses in 50-80% range as a first year analyst.
Can confirm salaries for Continental europe (many friends working there), with +-10k latitude. in many countries they also have tickets for lunch (Eur8/12 per day range)
Continental Europe needs to be broken down more by city because I can assure you that UBS Madrid differs from Citi Milan which differs from JPM Paris. For Milan I've heard (and this is anecdotal so someone who works there/knows can weigh in here) that BAML pays a compensation package of ~80K EUR whilst GS is more in the 60s (the famous GS discount).
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London salary's right, 50k base is the market standard for any front office role with a few firms below and above. But those Continental salaries seem a bit fishy, can anyone confirm? If so, I need to get the hella out of London. Knew London salaries were shitty compared to US because of the depreciating pound over the years, but damn even Europe doing us like that wth
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Madrid is 60-65k base afaik.
So compensation is in line with European peers, but why is it so low relative to American levels?
Difficult to answer, but probably mostly due to the post-Brexit vote depreciation which hasn’t and may not ever have a reason to recover. Current salary levels were set when the FX was around 1.6-1.7. It’s now 1.25. To the average Brit who is less concerned with comparing themselves to the US, I’ve found that they mentally perceive a given salary in GBP the same Americans would perceive anywhere from 1.7-1.9x that number in USD. As someone mentioned, the median salary is c.GBP30k.
Another myth is that cost of living in London is on par or above tier 1 US cities (NYC/SF etc). In USD real terms, it’s definitely somewhat lower. Taxes at junior level are lower as well, especially vs. NYC, so take home percentage is a little higher. Obviously, though, this can’t explain why an Analyst in Charlotte or Houston will get paid 50-100% more in USD terms than an Analyst in London.
It could also have something to do with us being able to print unlimited money without seemingly devaluing our currency at all. Some colleagues in EM countries are panicking because EM currencies have really been getting hit hard. But I may be speaking out of my ass here.
Base at gbp50k is correct but bonus isn’t. Bonus for first years (pre-covid) were over gbp30k (check the Arkesden compensation report pdf for free online). Wouldn’t be surprised if some banks paid bonuses in the 20s but that’s not the average. You add in gbp5k in sign on and you are at roughly gbp90k all in. Median income in UK is gbp30k so you are at 3.0x the country’s median.
Assuming your usd150k number for NYC is correct, you compare to the US median income of usd55k and you are at roughly 2.7x country’s median.
So one could argue that you are better paid in UK than in US. Obvisouly that’s not a fair comparison but illustrate the point that UK IB salaries aren’t “so low”.
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