Which degree will get you into banking?

 

Emolument.com has analysed 706 salary and bonus entries from London-based bankers

 

Overwhelmingly, Business & Finance: as expected most bankers choose business or finance-related degree such as Accounting or Economics, which shows an interest in the financial sector right from their late teens, when they picked their university course; thereby making most of them.

 

However scarcity is highly prized: While they may represent 34% of the banking population, Business graduates are not the best paid ? far from it; Mathematics & Statistics grads at Director level earn on average close to £400,000 vs. £265,000 for those with a Business Accounting & Finance degree, reflecting the difficulty of learning these highly technical skills on the job, and how effective they are at structuring deals or trading in an environment using increasingly complex financial products.

 

How about the arts? Surprisingly, banks even hire prospective bankers with arts degrees: HSBC leads the way with as much as 15% of its front office staff sourced from Arts and Humanities subjects; these bankers usually attended the most prestigious universities such as Oxford or Cambridge and are popular despite their lack of technical abilities.

Most represented subjects - London Banking

Top Majors % of total population
Accounting, Business, Finance 34%
Economics 24%
Mathematics & Statistics 11%
Engineering 10%
Chemistry 4%
Computer Sciences 3%

Best paying subjects - London Banking Directors
 
Best Paying Majors Salary + Bonus
Mathematics & Statistics £398,000
Computer Sciences £329,000
Economics £322,000
Chemistry & Natural Sciences £316,000
Engineering £308,000
History £294,000
Accounting, Business, Finance £265,000
 

 

Emolument provides bonus and salary statistics based on data submitted directly by professionals like you. It is free, anonymous, and already a trusted tool for thousands of professionals worldwide. Are you paid enough? Click here to find out now.


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