The Very Highest-Paying Jobs in Finance

Everyone loves to read about ridiculous banker salaries, so this week we collected the most ridiculous of banker salaries in order to answer the question: what are the very highest-paying jobs in finance?

The answers are unsurprising, but may be enlightening to aspiring bankers trying to decide on a specialism. Analyst salaries are fairly uniform across all specialisms, but by the time these analysts reach MD level, their salaries differ dramatically, with MDs in areas like StructuringTrading, and M&A earning as much as double what their counterparts in Fund Management and Institutional Sales are bringing in.

 

Analyst_MD_highest_paying_job_bank

Highest MD Salaries in Banking Specialisms

 
Role MD Salary MD Bonus MD
Total
Structurer in Investment Banking £262,000 £391,000 £653,000
Trader in Investment Banking £240,000 £362,000 £602,000
M & A and Leveraged Finance Banker £230,000 £340,000 £570,000
Origination Banker £250,000 £250,000 £500,000
Fundraising for Hedge Funds and Asset Managers £150,000 £190,000 £340,000
Institutional Sales in Investment Banking £197,000 £132,000 £329,000
Fund Manager for Funds >£5bn £130,000 £173,000 £303,000
 

Equivalent Analyst Salaries in Banking Specialisms

  
Role Analyst Salary Analyst Bonus Analyst
Total
Structurer in Investment Banking £50,000 £10,000 £60,000
Trader in Investment Banking £50,000 £5,000 £55,000
M & A and Leveraged Finance Banker £50,000 £7,500 £57,500
Origination Banker £50,000 £10,000 £60,000
Fundraising for Hedge Funds and Asset Managers £35,000 £2,300 £37,300
Institutional Sales in Investment Banking £47,000 £12,000 £59,000
Fund Manager for Funds >£5bn £44,000 £10,000 £54,000
  • The top spots go to investment bankers, with salaries topping £600,000 for MDs in Structuring and Trading. This works out as more than 10 times what an analyst in the same specialism can expect to earn.
  • This is partly thanks to the vast increase in bonus as a percentage of salary over bankers' careers. Analysts can expect between 10% and 20% of their salary as a bonus, while MDs receive up to 150% of their salary over again as a bonus.
  • These results may not surprise seasoned finance professionals. However, to uninitiated graduates looking to begin a banking career, one £60K analyst salary may look much like another, and the extent to which these salaries later diverge could come as a shock.
 

Results are based on 5,400 finance professionals working in the UK.

 

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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