You can earn 4 times the bonus working as a junior banker for an American bank in London than a British one

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May 5, 2017 9:55 AM

Analysts — the most junior full-time front office position — working for British lenders picked up an average bonus of £5,000 to top up their £50,000 salary.

It could be slim pickings for bankers this year.

LONDON — Junior bankers in the London who work for British-headquartered banks earned bonuses this year of just one-quarter to what those working for American institutions in the UK earned this year, according to salary-benchmarking site Emolument.

The latest survey of finance workers' bonuses, released on Friday, highlights the major disparity in bonuses for front office staff at US-based lenders compared to UK-based ones.

Surveying over 1,600 bankers across London, Emolument found that analysts — the most junior full-time front office position — working for British lenders picked up an average bonus of £5,000 to top up their £50,000 salary. That compares to a £20,000 bonus and a £58,000 salary for workers at Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, and Morgan Stanley.

Analysts at continental banks including BNP Paribas, Credit Suisse, and Deutsche Bank are in between the two, with an average bonus of £7,000 on top of their £50,000 salary.

Discrepancies between UK and US lenders in terms of pay remain as seniority increases, though the gap narrows somewhat in percentage terms — associates get £32,000 compared to £45,000, vice presidents see a £60,000 bump compared to £100,000, and directors at UK banks get an average bonus of £115,000 compared to £155,000 at US institutions.

Here is Emolument's handy chart:

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