How much am I worth? Senior European fund manager, large fund management firm

A panel of specialist headhunters give their assessment of typical London pay packages: Senior European fund manager, large fund management firm: salary 100,000, bonus - in good times, 40-60%.

What's in a name? Almost everything in the fund management business, it would seem.

With European markets as dead in the water as their UK and US counterparts, fund managers who have earned a reputation for being able to actually make money - or at least, not lose money - in the current financial environment are finding they can pretty much write their own pay-cheque.

"Managers with good three-year numbers are in high demand and have an apparently disproportionate following," says a spokesman for the Asset Management Section at Alexander Mann Global Markets (AMGM).

This has meant funds with almost mythical status have grown up: the Gartmore European Focus Fund and the St. James Greater EU Fund, to name just two, have shown that the bears are not 't fully in control - successful asset management can buck an otherwise downward trend.

Although successful fund managers will have their own way of selecting winner stocks or markets, recent experience seems to have shown that trading diversified European equities has proved the most successful strategy of making money.

There has been a move towards "Pan-Europeanism" and away from just selecting stocks from the main German, French or Italian markets. These days a successful fund manager will select companies from the main European countries, from central and even east Europe as well as the UK to make up his/her fund.

A successful fund will comprise a truly diverse range of stocks from the well known to the obscure, large companies and small start-ups.

A successful fund manager will also have to be a good people manager: indeed, selecting the right people to form part of the team is just as important as selecting the right stocks to make up the fund.

Again, that is not easy at the moment: though obviously fund management companies are eager to seek and retain the best staff, recruitment is patchy.

Though it is not intense as trading, managing a fund - especially a diverse pan-European Fund - can be an exhausting business.

"The pressure can be tough: good asset management performance means growing the business and competing with your peer group," says AMGM, which adds that the typical senior fund manager will probably between his/her late 30s-late 40s.

Big sought after 'names' expect a base salary of 120-150,000, while most managers would expect 80-120,000; those with five-plus years of experience can expect to get the higher level, with bonuses typically 40-60%.

Other headhunters believe the current average base is probably lower - Napier Scott says 75,000-90,000. What is clear is that with money so tight, bonuses are "under the cosh."

"I know some fund managers who are getting zip for bonuses," says Shaun Springer of Napier Scott. Bonuses - not surprisingly, perhaps - are very much paid out according to performance, rather than earnings.

Contributors include AMGM and the Napier Scott Group