Salary survey: Project finance professionals still in demand

Managing directors in the City of London earn a median salary of 130,000, (€205,000) with a bonus typically of 110%, the survey shows. At the top level bonuses can be several times higher.

Marcus De Luca, a headhunter at Harvey Glynne, said pay had risen over the past two years. As well as being sought after by a widening pool of employers, project finance staff had benefited from the increasing sophistication of financing methods, which require greater expertise than in the past.

Last year the job market in project finance in banks held up better than in.sectors such as corporate finance and equities, De Luca said. But firms such as Deutsche Bank and DrKW began to make redundancies in the last quarter of 2001. US and other institutions followed suit this year and more layoffs are on the way.

Project finance staff were reacting in an entrepreneurial spirit, finding jobs at fund managers, monoline insurers, project sponsors, and banks moving into project finance for the first time.

'There remains huge underlying demand for projects to be financed in both the developed and emerging markets,' De Luca said.

'As long as the projects are in demand, the quality project financier will secure employment, whether in a bank or elsewhere, and those with experience covering advisory, arranging and the capital markets will be particularly sought after,' he said. Demand was higher in Europe than the US or Asia.

In banking, the infrastructure sector was likely to provide the most recruitment activity in coming months. Government projects in the UK would remain a long-term source of work.

Overall, De Luca said he believed the project finance job market in the banks willwould pick up at the start of next year. But in the meantime prospects for bonuses were being undermined by low deal volumes, particularly in the technology and energy sectors.

De Luca said some ex-employees of Enron, the giant energy company which collapsed earlier this year, had managed to secure high quality jobs elsewhere. However other energy companies were in the process of selling assets and making redundancies, which meant staff in the sector would have to be particularly flexible in order to find new jobs.

The Harvey Glynne survey showed project finance directors earn a median salary of 100,000 (€158,000), with a bonus of typically 100%. At assistant director level, salaries were 70,000 (€111,000) and median bonuses 80%.

The figures were compiled from employees interviewed by the firm as well as its clients.

The survey found that at large investment banks some senior project finance professionals were earning basic salaries of 200,000 (€316,000). A few people had achieved bonuses reaching seven figures.

De Luca said he expected guaranteed bonuses to return to the sector next year, particularly at senior levels, as large banks found they had to hire again.