If you want to live and work in the City of London, the bar is set high. With London house prices increasing at double the national rate to an average of £514k, the Financial Times reports that young bankers in the front office are complaining about being unable to afford to rent – let alone buy- anywhere to live.
Front office juniors can’t expect much sympathy. In M&A, they earn £72k in their first year and £146k after five years, according to the most recent Dartmouth Partners salary and bonus survey.
If you work in global custody and investment operations, however, it’s a whole different issue.
As the chart below, compiled with data from the 2016 Robert Walters salary survey, shows, there are some custody-related roles in London which pay salaries of barely £25k after five years.
‘Settlements’ roles are the worst offenders. Five years’ into a settlements career (processing, monitoring and reconciling trades), Robert Walters says you can command a salary of £22k. Think that’s bad? When you start in settlements you’ll be on £14k and salaries haven’t risen since 2014….
