How much am I worth? Credit derivatives structurer, international bank

A panel of specialist headhunters give their assessment of typical London pay packages: Credit derivatives structurer, international bank: total package 100,000 at starter level, up to 500,000 for experienced staff.

Many things change in the financial services world, but one truth has remained constant through the bull markets of the 1990s and through today's bear market: if you want to get paid well and keep the respect of top bosses at your institution, work in a new 'sexy' financial sector and preferably one that nobody really understands.

It was not long ago that credit derivatives were considered something of a boutique luxury, the preserve of eggheads who left universities with double firsts in mathematics and liked grappling with figures that gave other people a headache.

No longer: the credit derivatives market is now home to some of the most ambitious people in banking, attracted by the relative scarcity of jobs and the correspondingly high salaries that they confer.

With almost every firm in the > seeking to develop their credit derivative function and talent thin on the ground - particularly of structurers - rewards are high.

"You will typically need a very strong quantitative background coupled with a consummate understanding of the business, including credit default swaps and credit-linked notes," says Alex Blair, derivatives and structuring consultant at Alexander Mann Global Markets (AMGM).

The successful credit derivatives structurer also needs a good front office persona and the ability to communicate effectively with clients, traders and other front and back office staff.

He or she needs to be highly adaptable as credit structuring is a rapidly evolving market.

"Product diversity and client appetite fuelled by bespoke packaging has transformed the credit derivative market," says Gary Collister, head of credit derivatives structuring and trading at Napier Scott.

He says specialists have been sucked in from a variety of backgrounds, while CDO (Collateralised Debt Obligation) and other specialist markets have continued to develop and evolve.

Collister identifies three main breeds of credit derivative structurer. The first are the original innovators who helped develop the market from a credit trading perspective five or six years ago and who now sit in comfy chairs as heads of credit derivatives.

The second include other innovators who helped develop the product from a more analytical background but who have moved on to more demanding areas such as exotic credit derivatives trading, structuring and marketing.

Both breeds can expect between 500,000 and 1.5m a year depending on performance and institution.

Then there is the new generation, young Turks who have used credit derivatives during what has been a highly volatile period of credit deterioration and market uncertainty, and are getting anything up to 250,000, again however highly dependent on performance.

The more specialist the product and the more extensive the experience of the person involved, the higher the reward.

'"A five-year structuring pro running a slick synthetic CDO business at a hard core credit house could expect to pick up in excess of 1,000,000, while someone running the entire business (structured credit) at the same house could and should expect compensation in the 2-3 million range,' says Collister.

Contributors include Alexander Mann Global Markets (AMGM) and Napier Scott