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So you think you’re underpaid?

COMMENTS

Looking at these responses shows how arrogant and stupid most people who work in banking are.  Read all comments »

Here, slightly belatedly, are the results of our global bonus survey. It was conducted last month, in the days before Bear Stearns was totally subsumed by JPMorgan or Bradford & Bingley cast a deathly pallor across the British banking sector. The main conclusion? You don’t think you’re being paid enough.

A total of 938 of you responded to the survey. A hefty 62% thought you should have been paid more for your efforts in 2007.

This may be because, on average – and despite last year’s bonuses being generous – you were paid fairly modestly.

Only 18.6% of respondents received bonuses in excess of $200k. And 46% received less than $50k.

The results may have been skewed by the inclusion of responses from the likes of Singapore, where bonuses are typically lower than in London and New York.

However, it also goes to show that while some people working in financial services make enough to retire while they still have all their hair, the vast majority really don’t. This is confirmed by stats from the Centre for Economics and Business Research, which suggest the average City of London bonus for last year was £24k and the average bonus for 2008 will be a meagre £14k.

Despite feeling underpaid, the vast majority (86%) of respondents to our survey said they’d never knowingly misrepresented their role in a transaction to wangle more money from their employer. However, 70% said the current system encourages emphasis on short-term performance, and 50% said the bonus system should be reformed.

What would bonus reform look like? Most people said bonuses should be averaged over the cycle. But a few (three) felt moved to suggest bonuses should be paid on a monthly basis along with salaries.

COMMENTS

Not rich, Operations,  Mon 02 Jun 08

Not everyone working in banking is earning fortunes and deserves to be taxed to death. The media is responsible for this fallacy.

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Henry, FX & Money Markets,  Tue 03 Jun 08

I can't believe these numbers are so low - 46% received less than $50k? Shows that this site is full of back office cretins, recruitment types rather than alpha males. No wonder nobody believed me when I gave my numbers. The truth is, if you're in London and good, last year you'll have received a 6 figure bonus (in sterling) at the end of your 2nd year analyst in 07. £14k average bonus this year? Does that include the cleaners and back office peasants? LOL. These guys really give us a bad name, wish they'd just focus on the front office in such surveys so we'd get more admiration and respect for making so much.

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anon, Derivatives,  Tue 03 Jun 08

Goes to show bulk of people who read this site are graduates and non front office, as expected.

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Peter, Equities,  Tue 03 Jun 08

Oh come on! The bankers got us into this mess, and now say they should be getting paid more for their little conribution. That is beyond the pale.

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anon, Derivatives,  Tue 03 Jun 08

Peter - so you assume every single banker out there worked on sub-prime?  There are plenty of people working in unrelated areas who will get a hit in pay as a consequence though.  This is fair?

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Kajal Patel, Derivatives,  Tue 03 Jun 08

Of course bankers are underpaid. I achieved 10A*s at GCSE, 5As at A-Level and a  1st class from LSE, all whilst doing internships, part-time work and extracurriculars. I've worked 100 hours a week throughout my studies in continuous improvement, developing both my academic/intellectual and interpersonal skills to be the very best. My bonus at end of my first year was £54k, and I deserve every penny of it and more for being so much harder working and talented than my peer group. It is ridiculous that people who worked one tenth as hard as me still get £20k jobs - and without the 40% tax burden! For being infinitely higher calibre, harder working and more talented, I deserve many multiples more in my paypacket.

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C, Equities,  Tue 03 Jun 08

Patel, the only thing that you lack is a little modesty and sense of reality. You don't leave in the perfect neardy world you learned so hard about in LSE.
Financial markets are built on greed but you shouldn't confuse luck, talent and the ability to exploit an opportunity with hard work. I bet there are many thousands working a lot harder than you in the world and they gain a tenth of what you get but they just didn't have the opportunity to study at LSE.
Be reasonable and stop looking at the others wih envy!

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Fred, Private Banking / Wealth Management,  Tue 03 Jun 08

agree with henry there! you can't compare some back-office dork with a profit machine that pushes the company's numbers up. reading about some of these bonuses made me laugh though - so thanks for this article! I wouldn't even get out of bed for 24k bonus...

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Fred, Private Banking / Wealth Management,  Tue 03 Jun 08

C - Not necessarily - I earn more than Patel and didn't study at all. Sometimes it's just about skills and knowing where to apply them...

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John, Research,  Tue 03 Jun 08

With Fred here.  Patel, you might be highly qualified and very successful, but it doesn't stop you being a PITA.  Working with people who like you and so up themselves is in itself a pain.  Get a life, get a girlfriend and see your job in perspective: you work with good people, you learn, you progress.  You are not better than them, or their counterparts in middle and back office, who earn a fraction of what you do.  You're just lucky and good at exams.  Get over yourself

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